Tyre industry pioneers, Michelin has a long history. Having begun in 1889, Michelin is now the second-largest tyre manufacturer in the world after Bridgestone and larger than both Goodyear and Contineantal.
Michelin is likely to embark on a major restructuring programme in the coming years. The news follows a meeting between Deutsche Bank analysts and Michelin. The fact that 24,000 people will be retired in the next five years (17,000 in Western Europe or 31 per cent of the workforce and 7,000 in North America or 33 per cent of the workforce) is said to allow for higher productivity gains and transfer of production to low cost countries.
Analysts have predicted that Michelin’s first half operating profit could match last year. They added that a three or four per cent fall in volume should be offset by the effects of a strong price/mix effect of plus four or five per cent. The Deutsche Bank report states that the analysts expect first half operating profits to be 50 million euros higher than the consensus of 700 million or 9.3 per cent of margin. This translates into an earnings per share estimate of 5.5 euros for 2005 earnings and 6.5 euros for 2006 earnings, against a consensus of five and six euros respectively.
Michelin has expanded its range of supermoto tyres with the introduction of four new tyres: a soft front, a medium/hard rear, and front and rear wets. These are in addition to the existing medium/soft front and medium rear.
(Akron/Tire Review) Michelin Lifestyle Ltd. has signed a licensing deal with Coker Tire Co. for the development and marketing of Michelin-branded products, including garage accessories, apparel, personal accessories, high-end memorabilia and collectibles.
According to Michelin Lifestyle, Coker will offer these products through Coker Tire’s North American catalogue operations and online store at www.coker.com.
Investcorp, investment group, has officially acquired American Tire Distributors, one of the leading distributors of tyres in the United States.
American Tire has 71 distribution centers and a fleet of 700 trucks providing coverage to 36 US states. It offers 60,000 products serving an average of 35,000 customers each month says the investment company. Annual revenue is $1.4 billion giving the company an approximate six per cent share of the total $24.3 billion market for replacement tyres in the US.
Williams and Michelin are working to “exploit” their advantage having experienced “minimal” tyre wear in the opening three races of the season, reports Planet F1.
The team spent three days testing at Barcelona where they covered a total of 533 laps. “We worked through a comprehensive test on tyre compounds, aerodynamic parts, traction control and general set-up,” technical director Sam Michael said. “The tyre wear that we have is far from the limit, as it has been in the first three races with the FW27, and we are working with Michelin to exploit this further.”
(Akron/Tire Review) Groupe Michelin has announced plans to build a new OTR tyre plant in Brazil near its existing tyre plant in Campo Grande.
The new plant, scheduled to begin producing tyres in the second half of 2007, will produce 25- to 49-inch tyres. Initial capacity will be 40,000 tons, according to Michelin, while long-range capacity could reach 55,000 tons.
Michelin said in a statement that the new plant will help it better serve its North and South American OTR customers.
By Alex Law
MacLeans magazine
“Nunc est bibendum.”
Horace originally meant that to be a call to merriment, or, in a more literal translation, “Now is the time to drink.”
When Michelin first used the phrase decades ago on an advertising poster, it was the tagline to a sketch of a man made out of tyres (now known as Bibendum) who was looking down a stretch of pavement filled with the kind of debris normally found on the world’s roads at the time. The message then meant, “I can handle all that.”
British driver Richard Westbrook clinched victory for the Lechner Racing School Team at the season’s opening round of the Porsche Michelin Supercup in Bahrain.
According to race commentary Westbrook started the 12-lap race from pole position and though he lost the sprint to the first corner against Christian Menzel of Germany he regained the lead in the seventh lap.
Westbrook is only the second British driver since Kelvin Burt in 1994 at Silverstone to win a Porsche Michelin Supercup race.
150 vintage vehicles from 11 countries will attempt to resuscitate the spirit of the Gordon Bennett cup 1905, with the support of Michelin and SATCAR. The event, the ancestor of today’s Grand Prix and Formula One races, will be held during the 2005 Automobile Club d’Auvergne2-5 June.
Participants will travel to Clermont-Ferrand from Germany, Austria, the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, France, Switzerland, Mexico and United States to cover the same track as a century ago, a 140 kilometre (90 mile) track at the foot of Puy-de-Dôme at the heart of the Auvergne volcano park.
The line up of cars will include the five vintage cars that actually took part in the Gordon Bennett Cup: two Napier Gordon Bennett (1903), a Mercedes 60 HP 2-Seater (1903), which entered history when Jenatzy won the Gordon Bennett Cup in 1903 in Ireland, a Pope Toledo Gordon Bennett (1905), and a Panhard Levassor Z40 (1905) which will run for the first time since it was revamped.
Sebastien Loeb drove his Michelin clad Citroen to victory yesterday in Rally New Zealand.
At the finish the 31-year-old reigning world champion had a 49.8 seconds margin over Finn Marcus Gronholm in a Peugeot with last year’s winner, Subaru’s Petter Solberg, a further 18.9 seconds back in third place.
The Norwegian Solberg still leads the drivers’ championship after four rounds by one point from Loeb with Peugeot’s Markko Martin two points further back.
The heat of New Zealand’s summer put further pressure on Michelin and Citroen to
“At Citroen we have worked over the year on this type of gravel. We changed a bit of everything since last year, said Loeb.”
“We changed the suspension, the engine and we also have some new version of the tyre. This means the car is really feeling perfect and it’s looking good for the future.”
The Governance and Nomination Committee of international mobile phone giant Nokia has proposed Edouard Michelin, managing partner and CEO of Michelin Group, to be elected to the Nokia Board for a one-year term.
Edouard Michelin joined Michelin 1985 and has since held different managerial positions within research, manufacturing, marketing and sales. Between 1990 and 1993 he headed the Michelin manufacturing facilities in North America and the truck tyre product line. He is a Michelin managing partner and has been CEO of Michelin Group since 1999.
Michelin has expanded its range of supermoto tyres with the introduction of four new tyres: a soft front, a medium/hard rear, and front and rear wets. These are in addition to the existing medium/soft front and medium rear.
(Akron/Tire Review) Michelin North America (MNA) has added the Michelin X One XDA-HT Plus drive tyre to its X One line of wide singles.
Michelin will supply the tyres for the eight Renault Trucks vehicles taking part in the Silk Road 2005 expedition between 2nd April and 9th June. The teams will travel 20 000 km across Europe, Turkey, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrghyztan and the Inner Mongolian region of China, following the path of the legendary Silk Road. Michelin will fit the trucks with specially designed all-terrain tyres, sized 395/85 R20 XZL.
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