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 now offers truck drivers a new app that aims to “help them optimise their mobility and make their daily lives easier.” After a year of development in consultation with truck drivers, the tyre maker began providing new digital services via the Michelin RoadConnect application on 11 September. The app, says Michelin, is built around four main features.
Capacity at Michelin’s factory in Chennai, India will more than double to 30,000 tonnes a year by the end of 2018. Work has already begun on increasing truck tyre capacity at the Thervoy Kandigai plant, which currently makes 70 per cent of the commercial tyres Michelin sells in India, and the intention is for the plant to meet all Indian market demand for these products with tyres within two years. This expansion will be accompanied by an increase in the plant’s workforce from around 850 to approximately 1,000.
Michelin solutions has been awarded a major contract with XPO Logistics, a leading global provider of transport and logistics solutions, to provide a tailored tyre management solution across nearly 80 per cent of its 17,000-strong European fleet. The tyre maker notes that the three-year agreement represents one of the largest and most complex commercial vehicle tyre contracts in the sector.
No I am not talking about the unqualifiable rumours that Doublestar made an offer of up to 250 million euros for Zenises. Rather, that in the first week of September we learnt that Doublestar’s proposed acquisition of Kumho was collapsing before the firm’s eyes after the Qingdao-Chinese tyre manufacturer asked for a double-digit discount. And it is also worth considering what all this means for the wider tyre manufacturing sector.
On 26 September, Michelin North America, Inc., filed suit against Tire Mart Inc., doing business as Braven Off-Road, alleging the company has infringed a design patent covering the BFGoodrich Mud-Terrain T/A KM2 tyre.
The next generation of Michelin’s MEMS mining tyre management system is now available. With the release of its MEMS4 system, the tyre maker has added real-time GPS and accelerator data, and by doing so says its current TPMS offer has been transformed into a “complete monitoring and reporting platform for tyres, trucks, mine haulage and vehicle cycle analysis.”
Michelin has unveiled the 2018 Michelin Guide Great Britain & Ireland, which highlights a total of 2,067 restaurants and 1,155 hotels and guesthouses.
This year, The Araki has been awarded Three Michelin Stars. “With its nine-seater counter, The Araki has gone from strength to strength. When Mitsuhiro Araki moved to London from Tokyo in 2014 he set himself the challenge of using largely European fish and his sushi is now simply sublime,” comments Michael Ellis, international director of the Michelin guides. It joins a select group of restaurants with three Michelin Stars: The Fat Duck and The Waterside Inn in Bray, Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester and Restaurant Gordon Ramsay which has retained the award under its new chef, Matt Abé.
Michelin has taken first place in Tyres & Accessories annual online brand prominence table, conducted in association with analysts NetNames. Following the news that Michelin is the strong online brand in terms of social media equity both in the UK and globally, the French tyre maker is no doubt delight to continue its historically strong showing. However, for the second year in a row, Continental overtook Michelin in terms of brand sentiment. And when you consider that Continental is also Michelin’s main contender in terms of social media equity, it now appears that pole position in the online space is a two horse race between Michelin and Continental. That’s said, at the other end of the spectrum mid-range and economy brands have registered some significant increases in online brand prominence during the last 12 months.
In addition topping the global table, Michelin found pole position in Tyres & Accessories’ 2017 UK social media ranking. At the same time Cooper and Bridgestone climbed four and three places respectively, making these two manufacturers the table’s fastest risers.
But before any further details, a little context: Unlike our global ranking, the UK ranking covers the top 15 brands. The reason? A greater number of tyre brands are active in the UK social media space than on the global level, something that could suggest the UK is something of a thought leader when it comes to tyre sector social marketing. But that’s not to say that the UK tyre brand’s social branding performance is in anyway second-rate compared wi
Michelin’s fleet division has extended its relationship with the UK Armed Forces Rally Team (AFRT) – the Ministry of Defence’s only tri-service motorsport squad. The deal will see Michelin continue to supply Latitude Cross and XZL tyres for the team’s seven Land Rover Wolf rally vehicles until at least the end of the 2018 season.
Car service operator Addison Lee’s adoption of a Michelin CrossClimate+ policy, managed by Universal Tyre and Autocentres, has resulted in a reduction in its annual tyre bill of 20 per cent, the operator of the UK’s largest passenger car fleet states. Justin Patterson, head of operations at Addison Lee, says: “We’re currently fitting around 5,000 fewer tyres per year than we did prior to introducing the first CrossClimate tyres.”
Michelin has said a lot in recent times about when a tyre should be replaced. The French manufacturer advocates tyre use down to the legal limit of 1.6mm, provided the tyre continues to deliver the safety it should. Presenting the new Primacy 4 at the IAA, Michelin stated that this product, developed over a period of three years, provides “a high level of performance on wet roads, from the first use until worn to the legal wear indicator (1.6mm).”
Michelin is suppling two new Michelin-Harley-Davidson co-branded Scorcher tyres as original equipment on selected 2018 Harley Davidson Softail motorcycles.
According to the tyre maker, the Michelin Scorcher 31 features traditional cruiser styling cues while the Michelin Scorcher 11 offers a sportier look. The Scorcher “11” and Scorcher “31” are factory-installed on many models, and can be installed as a replacement tyre on other specified models.
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.
Michelin served as a partner at the 2017 FIM International Six Days of Enduro (ISDE), which took place in France at the end of August and start of September, and during this event it announced the start of sale of its latest enduro tyres, which took four years to develop.
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