If you put the LOGOs of the world's famous brands together, I believe most people will notice this fat man at first sight. Even if they don't know it is a tire brand, they will know that this trademark is called Michelin. By 2020, this company will have been born for 131 years. How has Michelin developed during these 131 years?
In 1889, the story begins. In this year, Edward Michelin inherited an agricultural machinery factory that produced simple rubber products from his grandfather. Instead of expanding the original business, he roped in his younger brother Andrew Michelin to establish the Michelin company to study bicycle tires.
In 1891, the brothers applied for a patent for the first detachable pneumatic bicycle tire they produced. This invention allowed bicycle racers to quickly replace damaged bicycle tires, which helped them win the championship. The competition saves a lot of time and is also popular with the public.
In 1895, Michelin installed pneumatic tires on cars. In order to prove its reliability, the brothers successfully completed the competition driving a car using pneumatic tires. Since the invention of pneumatic tires, people no longer have to endure the bumps and noise of iron wheels. With the protection of pneumatic wheels, wheels no longer have to endure the pain of breakage.
In 1905, Michelin designed a tread with flat-head nails, which greatly improved the tire's grip and durability.
In 1913, Michelin invented the detachable steel wheel. This invention originated from the Green Prix with a total length of more than 1,200 kilometers. Michelin allowed some competitors to use detachable wheels, which could replace damaged tires in the shortest time, and the results were a great success.
In 1923, the first low-pressure passenger car tire was introduced.
In 1930, Michelin registered a patent for integrated inner tube tires.
In 1938, the first truck tire with a steel carcass was invented.
In 1946, the radial tire was invented. The invention of the radial tire is called a technological revolution in the tire world. By embedding steel curtains in the tire, the tire has a longer service life, better handling, and a more comfortable ride. Radial tires were put on the market in 1949 and achieved great success. Since then, they have been gradually applied to trucks, agricultural vehicles, motorcycles, construction machinery vehicles and aircraft, and major tire brands have also followed suit.
Michelin entered the Chinese market in 1989 and put into operation its first factory in Shenyang in 1995. It developed rapidly after entering China. While building factories to expand production capacity, it also established an R&D center in Shanghai to continuously develop suitable products. Products for China’s road conditions environment.
In 1898, Michelin's brand logo "Mr. Bib Gourmand" was launched. After more than a hundred years, the logo has gradually evolved into a cute and naive look. In recent years, Bibendum has also followed the trend and lost weight. In 2000, "Bib Gourmand" was named the Trademark of the Century by the Financial Times. However, "Bibendum" is not very popular in China, so in 2006, "Bibendum" got a new name in China: "Mr. Michelin Tire".
Today, Michelin’s global market share exceeds 13%, with 67 factories, an annual output of more than 190 million items, services in more than 170 countries, and more than 4,000 service stores. In 2019, the brand value 7.932 billion US dollars, ranking 478th in the world.
Michelin’s tire products are divided into cars, off-road vehicles, motorcycles, trucks, agricultural vehicles, construction machinery vehicles, aircraft, etc. in terms of vehicle types; in terms of use, they are divided into all-season tires, winter tires, and summer tires. . The car tires we use every day are roughly divided into five series, namely: the economical and durable Renyue series, the all-season Quayue series, the quiet-focused Haoyue series, the SUV series, and the control-focused Racing series.
If you want to develop in the tire manufacturing industry, you cannot do without data collection of various extreme road conditions and technology research and development based on this. Not only Michelin can do these two things, but other brands also have unique features, such as Sponsor various vehicle events such as F1, WRC, Dakar, and Le Mans 24 Hours Endurance Race, and establish R&D centers. But in terms of creating customer demand and brand marketing, other brands can only fall behind, such as the well-known "Michelin Guide".
We have no doubt about the original intention of the Michelin brothers to help drivers reach their destinations more smoothly, but the Michelin Guide, which collects information on gas stations, restaurants, hotels, auto repair shops, etc., has indeed played a role in creating demand role. It has been popular with the public since its birth in 1900, especially the launch of the Michelin road map in 1910 and the "Michelin Green Guide", which was born in 1926 and collected a large amount of travel information, greatly promoting the development of self-driving travel by car.
Since then, many people have pursued driving travel as a dream lifestyle, which has greatly promoted the development of the automobile and tire industries. For more than 100 years, Michelin food appraisers have traveled all over the world, evaluating and recording well-known restaurants and their dishes through unannounced visits.
For many restaurants, Michelin's positive reviews mean popularity and income, while negative reviews are a restaurant's nightmare, so a "Michelin Guide" plays an extremely important role in the catering industry.
The red-cover "Michelin Guide" is not limited to Europe. Starting in 2016, Michelin launched a Shanghai edition, and now it has a Guangzhou edition and a Beijing edition. For more than 100 years, Michelin has gradually integrated its brand into people's lives with its unique marketing methods.
Michelin is a gourmet in the tire circle and a traveler in the gourmet world, but it has always been the most professional tire manufacturer. Although Michelin has done very well in terms of production capacity, technology research and development, and brand marketing, and has become a leader in the tire industry, strong competition from other brands cannot be ignored, so continuous innovation in technology is the way to development.
Now, we pay more attention to safety, comfort, energy saving and environmental protection than ever before, so tires are also moving towards better control, smaller noise, lower fuel consumption, longer service life and recycling The development direction of utilizing waste tires. In this direction, I believe Michelin and other brands will come up with more novel inventions to make our vehicles drive more smoothly.
(The pictures in the article are from the Internet)
This article comes from the author of Autohome Chejiahao and does not represent the views and positions of Autohome.