Michelin Celebrates 120th Birthday

May 28, 2009 represented a special day in the Michelin calendar – exactly 120 years earlier the company was founded in Clermont-Ferrand, France. Situated on 12 hectares on Place des Carmes (named for a convent that formerly occupied the site), the company had only around 50 employees at the time. Two years later, the firm produced the first removable bicycle tyre, launching Michelin’s relationship with the pneumatic tyre.

Today, 120 years later, Michelin is still headquartered in Clermont-Ferrand, but worldwide the company boasts 118,000 employees in 170 countries. Michelin states that, since its origins, the company has pursued the same vision of enhancing the mobility of people and goods. This vision, it says, is summed up in the company’s signature motto – “a better way forward” – which is featured on all its communication worldwide.