Michelin Plant Aims to Beat

Michelin’s Vitoria factory has set itself the challenge of beating its own record and making 11.5 million car and giant excavator tyres, Spanish news sources have reported.

All four Michelin’s Vitoria business units, giant tyres, car tyres, cable and rubber, registered growth in 2004, thanks to a 12 per cent upturn in the world tyre market. During the year, more than 10.8 million car tyres left the Vitoria plant for car manufacturers, including Volkswagen, Ford, Seat, Renault, Opel, Peugeot and Citröen, who accounted for 30 per cent of the units produced. The other 70 per cent went to the spares market, to workshops, garages and inspection centres.

But Vitoria specialises in the production of giant tyres for excavators and other civil works equipment. The factory even holds the record for the world’s largest tyre have created a 3.72 metre, six tonne giant of a product. Everything this area does is to order, as the tyres it makes cost anything up to 40,000 euros and are usually hired out rather than sold, the company guaranteeing optimum performance during a certain period, and the “purchaser” returning them at the end of the agreed term.