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Since it established its tyre business in the UK 107 years ago Michelin has gone from strength to strength, a position that is unlikely to change in the future
One day in 1891 a cyclist showed up at Edouard and André Michelin's rubber factory in Clermont-Ferrand, France, with a tyre that needed repairing. The brothers did this in an overnight procedure that involved removing, then re-gluing the tyre to the bicycle's wheel, and this set Edouard on a mission to create a tyre that did not need to be glued to the rim.
Fourteen years later - 1905, the same year Commercial Motor published its first issue - Michelin's tyre business was successful enough for the brothers to incorporate it in the UK. It is now a leading tyre player around the world, with a sales network covering more than 170 countries, and producing 150 million tyres a year. This has included manufacturing tyres for Nasa's space shuttles prior to the fleet of orbiters being retired in 201 1. Indeed, the company invests more on research and development each year - euro500 million (£395.6 million) - than any of its competitors.
In the UK today, Michelin is the number one tyre manufacturer in the truck tyre replacement market, with the largest number of road staff visiting hauliers and own-account operators on a daily basis. It makes new truck tyres for the European and US markets at its production facility in Ballymena, Northern Ireland - which has just celebrated manufacturing its 30 millionth tyre - and has an extensive truck tyre remoulding operation opposite its headquarters in Stoke-on-Trent.
Following the launch of Michelin's new 295/80 R 22.5 X MultiWay 3D XZE steer tyre, with the matching drive fitment joining the range soon, the company is once again poised to introduce one of the most innovative new products in the market. But how did Michelin UK get here?
Pumping up Britain's expectations
André and Edouard Michelin always had big ideas for Britain, running advertisements in the British press in 1914, calling for a Channel Tunnel to be constructed linking England with France - a vision that would be realised some 80 years later. The company's bespoke office building on the Fulham Road in London was used...