Michelin has named Alexis Garcin as the next chairman and president of Michelin North America. He succeeds Scott Clark, who was recently promoted to Michelin’s Group Executive Committee as executive vice president responsible for the global passenger car and light truck business, motorsports, Experiences (including the Michelin Guides) and regional oversight of the Americas.
A new prototype wheel technology showcased at the Movin’On sustainable mobility summit this week promises to put an end to punctures, spare tyres (or that awful can of repair foam lurking in the bowels of your car’s boot) and regular tyre pressure checks. It’s called the Michelin Uptis Prototype – short for ‘Unique Punctureproof Tire System’. The tyre/rim combination builds upon the Michelin Tweel technology used in lawncare and industrial applications, and Michelin stresses it is more than merely a concept.
Florent Menegaux has succeeded Jean-Dominique Senard as head of the Michelin Group. He officially took on the role of chief executive officer at the company’s 2019 Annual General Meeting, which was held last Friday.
Florent Menegaux, who will take up his post as chief executive officer of Michelin on 17 May, wants the company’s Group Executive Committee to place a greater focus upon strategic arbitrage. To aid the Committee’s evolution, the tyre maker has appointed three new senior managers.
In 2017, Michelin stated that hydrogen “ticks all the boxes” for its vision of sustainable mobility. The company’s activities in this area are now moving forward with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding to create a new joint venture that will bring together all of Michelin’s fuel cell related activities, including its subsidiary Symbio, with those of automotive parts manufacturer Faurecia.
Attendees at the Michelin 2018 General Annual Meeting of Shareholders last Friday elected Florent Menegaux to the position of general managing partner and Yves Chapot as non-general managing partner. In each case, more than 99 per cent of voting shareholders voted in favour of the appointments.
Jean-Dominique Senard has confirmed he doesn’t wish to stand for re-election upon the expiry of his current term as Michelin’s chief executive officer. This means he will step down at the close of the tyre maker’s 2019 Annual Shareholders Meeting, and Michelin is implementing a succession plan that will see Florent Menegaux take his place.
Under a cooperative deal signed with Hyundai Motor, Michelin will work together to develop a new all-season tyre for electric vehicles, and will also collaborate in the development of a bespoke tyre for a successor model to the Genesis G80 saloon. Representatives from Hyundai Motor recently visited Michelin’s research and development centre in Clermont-Ferrand, France, to sign a technical partnership agreement.
Michelin believes it has helped reinvent the wheel. At the IAA motor show in Frankfurt, Germany, the tyre maker is presenting a new solution together with Maxion Wheels, a product the two companies believe will help eliminate road-based damage to tyres and rims.
During the course of the 2016 Paris Motor Show, Tyres & Accessories took time out with Florent Menegaux (Michelin chief operating officer in charge of product and core business).
Our conversation covered four key areas: Mobility – that is, Michelin’s increasingly evident philosophical evolution away from simply being a tyre maker towards being a mobility provider; Products and services – in other words the traditional well-established product centres the company is best known for (as well as the innovations connection to and rising from these areas); Experiences – what has traditionally been known as the maps and guides part of Michelin’s operations, but which is increasingly seeking to connect the firm’s excellent brand and content with technology and monetisation options; and finally distribution – the actual means of getting products (and services) from the manufacturer to the end-user via the professional supply chain.
Michelin chief operating officer, Florent Menegaux told Tyres & Accessories that the manufacturer would promote synergies with ATS Euromaster following its acquisition of Blackcircles.com. Speaking to Tyrepress following the announcement of its £50 million purchase, Michelin’s chief operating officer said that the UK’s biggest online tyre retail operation would gain “access to ATS Euromaster branches in the UK”, which numbered 343 in the recent T&A survey of the retail landscape.
If you would like the latest news from the Chinese tyre industry in Chinese, visit our partner site TyrepressChina.com. Or click below to continue on Tyrepress.