Michelin Gaining US Market Share – CEO

According to Michelin North America CEO Dick Wilkerson, the company’s Michelin brand products are “much more resilient than the other brands” in its product portfolio. This comment, made to a newspaper in the company’s US hometown of Greenville, South Carolina, indicates that its facilities in South Carolina are not facing a similar fate to the soon to close BFGoodrich plant in Alabama.

The Michelin brand has “gained market share in the downturn,” Wilkerson told the Greenville News, adding: “I think people are fleeing to value.” The CEO singled out the company’s speciality and earthmover tyres, along with the X One truck tyre, as products doing especially well at present in the US market. He added that Michelin’s US retreading business is also growing, with ever more location adopting the franchise process.

Speaking on the upcoming closure of the BFGoodrich facility in Opelika, Alabama, Wilkerson said that “right now, there is overcapacity” in the US market. He added that the Opelika plant was in part selected for closure as all tyre dimensions manufactured there can be readily made at other BFGoodrich plants, while the technology used there means that Opelika cannot so easily accommodate the production of new dimensions.

“Business decisions that directly impact the lives of our employees are extraordinarily difficult,” Wilkerson commented. “This action is necessary, however, for the long-term health and competitiveness of Michelin North America. In this crisis, there is no more business as usual.”