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.
Triumph Motorcycles has chosen the Michelin Pilot Power as the sole OE fitment for its 2005 Speed Triple.
The tyre was chosen as the best option for the 1050cc machine following extensive tests. It is described as combining “aggressive streetfighter looks” with “high quality chassis components.”
Michelin has ended its attempts to sue a 78-year-old pamphleteer. Shimon Tzavbar, who faced bankruptcy as a result of the legal proceedings, agreed not to use the firm’s name on an “unofficial” guide to Israeli jails.Michelin also withdrew a demand for Mr Tzabar to pay any of its legal costs.
Givign evidence the writer had said: “In order to make a satire that will catch the public eye, one has to use a name or symbol that is famous. The same way that the artist Andy Warhol used the famous Campbell soup name and logo to change the consumerism of society, so did I use the famous Michelin name to spread awareness of a great human tragedy, a tragedy that the Jews in Israel should know all about.”
The company had said his depiction of the Michelin man, with one arm raised and a tyre in his other hand, infringed its trademark rights.
Sebastién Loeb has become the World Rally Champion following his second place classification in this weekend’s Tour de Course, the French Rally. The win makes him the 10th driver in the sport’s history to take the title on Michelin tyres. The result was also good news for Citroën, which runs Xsara WRC cars for both Loeb and team mate Carlos Sainz, has retained its title as world manufacturer champions.
Months after announcing that the company’s Bibendum had been short-listed as one of the world’s most recognised logos, Michelin is going to court to defend the beloved ‘Michelin Man.’
After winning the last the last three rounds of the 2004 FIA World Rally Championship, the Subaru World Rally Team will travel to Corsica this week looking for their fourth consecutive win. Subaru team boss, David Lapworth, told the Global Motorsports website that tyre choice will have an enormous impact on the race’s outcome.
“At this time of year, weather is likely to play a large factor,” he said. “You can win or lose the event on tyre choice, and I think what won the rally for us last year was reading the weather conditions right and getting the tyres choices right, those things could well be factors again this year.
“The weather is often unpredictable, but even in the dry it’s a tricky rally as the roads are abrasive and rough. The drivers get the stiffest necks because it’s so twisty and bumpy, while the roads generate the highest tyre wear, the highest grip level and the highest temperatures so you have to look after the tyres – being fast over 50km is very different to being fast over the first 5km. If you’re a little bit too hard, it feels like you’re going faster, but actually the tyres are going off and you’re losing speed so it’s important to find the perfect balance between aggression, commitment and technique. Pirelli have also been working hard on the tyres and have made some good progress. However, we won’t really know where we are until we see the times from the first stage in Corsica. The benchmark is moving forward all the time and we don’t know what Michelin and the other teams have been doing.”
After fears that a so-called super typhoon would halt the Japanese Grand Prix, Michael Schumacher has won his 13th race of the season. The fact that qualification was more than a little disrupted by an “undriveably” wet track only meant that more emphasis was put on tyres. After the first ever Sunday morning qualification, Michael Schumacher’s Bridgestone equipped Ferrari blew away the opposition.
Williams’ Ralph Schumacher took second place, with Britain’s Jenson Button taking the third podium spot. According to Button: “I went for the two stops because it worked pretty well for me in the last race.” Michelin drivers took the majority of the other point scoring positions.
When the reigning world champion was asked what it felt like to back in winning form, having set a new record for the number of wins in a season, the Ferrari driver commented: “Yeah. It is obviously nice, for other reasons, particularly that it is Bridgestone’s home Grand Prix and we wished to do well for them and we did. We did very superb in being basically fastest all weekend and finally get the win and it is the way to pay back something to our partners.”
At the end of September Michelin Tire North America announced that it has recalled 46,000 passenger car and light trucks. Now the company is extending that recall to include the other markets that the tyres were supplied to.
Online motorsport news services are reporting that Williams, Renault and Toyota are all linked possible moves from Michelin to Bridgestone next season. According to the website Bridgestone has approached all six Michelin-shod Formula 1 teams, including McLaren, Jaguar and BAR. Williams, Renault and Toyota are believed to have responded with requests fore more information, according to British media sources. The source said Bridgestone wants at least one carmaker-backed Michelin team to switch camps and thus contribute to development of next year’s Formula 1 product.
New rules in 2005, requiring a Formula One tyre to have a longer life, will mean that the quality, and quantity, of this winter’s development will be even more crucial to success.
Subaru team driver Petter Solberg, has won the Rally of Italy keeping alive his hopes of defending the world rally championship title.
Michelin has held a meeting in New York where it announced that it is currently utilising its US truck capacity by 100 per cent. The market, which was up six per cent in H1, has dropped in the last two months, especially in the mass market when high performance tyres kept growing.
The company claimed that its price increases in the US are holding however, as they have already commented, they do not think that US customers can cope with a 3rd price increase this year. The company also claims that it doesn’t need another price increase to meet its 04E targets.
Michelin is fending off critics by reassuring all interested parties that its earnings and sales will improve this year, despite reiterating the fact that it expects higher raw-material prices to limit its growth in the second half.
“Raw-material prices are and will continue to rise and put pressure on margins,” Michelin’s CEO Edouard, told French newspaper Le Figaro.
In preparation for the 2012 Olympic Games Parisian leaders set a competition to find an unmistakable architectural indication of Paris. The winner, Explorations Architecture, took the title with a tower made from tyres that ends in the colours of the Olympic rings.
If the city were to win the Olympic rights the French area of Les Batignolles would exhibit the observation tower alongside the Olympic village. The architect’s draft plans an 80 metre high, bright tower, which provides most with a reminder of Michelin’s Bibendum. The tower will be constructed with helium filled tyres so that it is flexible and able to move with the wind. The tyres will be interconnected with four ropes, and the highest of the five rings will be illuminated in the Olympic colors.
The inaugural Chinese Grand Prix was certainly a successful one for race winner, Rubens Barichello. The Ferrari driver has now won two consecutive races for the first time in his career.
Canadian Treads has signed with Michelin Retread Technologies Inc (MRT), Michelin’s fifth MRT franchise in Canada.
Michelin is to exhibit its Airless tyres at the Paris Auto Show 2004. According to Michelin the “Airless Wheel” and “Tweel” tyres are still at the concept stage but would hopefully hit the mass market in the next 10 years.
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