for its restaurant guide and the stars awarded by it see michelin guide . compagnie g n rale des tablissements michelin sca type soci t en commandite par actions traded as euronext ml industry auto and truck parts founded 28 may 1889 ; 127 years ago 1889 05 28 headquarters clermont ferrand france key people jean dominique senard general partner and ceo michel rollier chairman of the supervisory board products tires travel assistance services revenue 21.47 billion 2012 1 operating income 2.469 billion 2012 1 profit 1.571 billion 2012 1 total assets 21.58 billion end 2012 1 total equity 8.501 billion end 2012 1 number of employees 111 200 end 2013 2 website michelin.com michelin m l n or m t l n ; french pronunciation mi l ; full name sca compagnie g n rale des tablissements michelin is a french tire manufacturer based in clermont ferrand in the auvergne r gion of france . it is one of the three largest tire manufacturers in the world along with bridgestone and goodyear . 3 in addition to the michelin brand it also owns the bfgoodrich kleber tigar riken kormoran and uniroyal in north america tire brands . michelin is also notable for its red and green travel guides its roadmaps the michelin stars that the red guide awards to restaurants for their cooking and for its company mascot bibendum colloquially known as the michelin man . michelin s numerous inventions include the removable tire the pneurail a tire for trains made to run on rails and the radial tire . contents 1 tires and wheels 1.1 history 2 motorsport 2.1 motogp 2.2 formula one 2.3 endurance racing 2.4 rallying 3 recent developments 3.1 active wheel 4 other products 4.1 tire retailer 4.2 tour guides 4.3 maps 4.4 online mapping 4.5 michelin challenge bibendum 4.6 michelin truck and bus 5 management 5.1 executive committee 6 see also 7 references 8 external links tires and wheels edit michelin manufactures tires for space shuttles 4 aircraft automobiles heavy equipment motorcycles and bicycles . in 2012 the group produced 166 million tires at 69 facilities located in 18 countries . 5 history edit an 1898 poster by o galop of bibendum the michelin man michelin advertising australia 1922 play media demonstration of the michelin so called car train with rubber tires in the netherlands in 1932 c. 1965 1970 view of old fashioned michelin omnibus and two michelin men with bystanders behind charles rolls statue monmouth wales . in 1889 two brothers douard michelin and andr michelin ran a rubber factory in clermont ferrand france . one day a cyclist whose pneumatic tire needed repair turned up at the factory . the tire was glued to the rim and it took over three hours to remove and repair the tire which then needed to be left overnight to dry . the next day douard michelin took the repaired bicycle into the factory yard to test . after only a few hundred metres the tire failed . despite the setback douard was enthusiastic about the pneumatic tire and he and his brother worked on creating their own version one that did not need to be glued to the rim . michelin was incorporated on 28 may 1889 . in 1891 michelin took out its first patent for a removable pneumatic tire which was used by charles terront to win the world s first long distance cycle race the 1891 paris brest paris . in the 1920s and 1930s michelin operated large rubber plantations in vietnam . conditions at these plantations led to the famous labour movement phu rieng do . 6 french indochina the french community of about 40 000 lived in the european quarters for the mass of the population the reality was forced labour working to produce the colony s exports of rice tin tea and above all rubber the source of the fortune of the michelin company . 7 in 1934 michelin introduced a tire which if punctured would run on a special foam lining ; a design now known as a run flat tire self supporting type . michelin developed and patented a key innovation in tire history the 1946 radial tire and successfully exploited this technological innovation to become one of the worlds leading tire manufacturers . 8 the radial was initially marketed as the x tire . 9 it was developed with the front wheel drive citro n traction avant and citro n 2cv in mind . michelin had bought the then bankrupt citro n in the 1930s . because of its superiority in handling and fuel economy use of this tire quickly spread throughout europe and asia . 8 in the u.s. the outdated bias ply tire persisted with market share of 87 % in 1967 . 8 in 1968 michelin opened its first north american sales office and was able to grow that market for its products rapidly ; by 1989 the company had 10 % market share for oem tires purchased by american automobile makers . 10 also in 1968 consumer reports an influential american magazine acknowledged the superiority of the radial construction setting off a rapid decline in michelin s competitor technology . 11 in the u.s. the radial tire now has a market share of 100 % . 8 in addition to the private label and replacement tire market michelin scored an early oem tire win in north america when it received the contract for the 1970 lincoln continental mark iii the first american car with radial tires fitted as standard . 12 in 1989 michelin acquired the recently merged tire and rubber manufacturing divisions of the american firms b.f. goodrich company founded in 1870 and uniroyal inc. founded in 1892 as the united states rubber company . 10 uniroyal australia had already been bought by bridgestone in 1980 . this purchase included the norwood north carolina manufacturing plant which supplied tires to the u.s. space shuttle program . 13 14 michelin also controls 90 % of taurus tire in hungary as well as kormoran 15 a polish brand . as of 1 september 2008 michelin is again the world s largest tire manufacturer after spending two years as number two behind bridgestone . 16 michelin produces tires in france spain germany the usa the uk canada brazil thailand japan italy and several other countries . on 15 january 2010 michelin 17 announced the closing of its ota japan plant which employs 380 workers and makes the michelin x ice tire . production of the x ice will be moved to europe north america and elsewhere in asia . 18 michelin tire plant in waterville nova scotia motorsport edit michelin is the official tire supplier of the porsche 911 gt3 cup cars used in the porsche carrera cup and the porsche supercup . motogp edit michelin participated in motogp from 1972 to 2008 . they introduced radial construction to motogp in 1984 and multi compound tires in 1994 . they achieved 360 victories in 36 years and from 1993 to 2006 the world championship had gone to a rider on michelins . in 2007 casey stoner on bridgestone tires won the world championship in dominating fashion and valentino rossi and other top riders complained that michelins were inferior . rossi wanted bridgestones for the 2008 season but bridgestone was reluctant to provide them ; dorna threatened to impose a control tire on the series after which bridgestone relented . in 2008 michelin s tires continued to be perceived as being inferior to bridgestone s citation needed and michelin committed errors of judgment in allocating adequate tires for some of the race weekends . dani pedrosa s team switched to bridgestones in the midst of the season a highly unusual move that caused friction between honda racing corporation and their sponsor repsol ypf . other riders also expressed concerns and it seemed that michelin might not have any factory riders for the 2009 season leading to rumours that michelin would withdraw from the series altogether . dorna and the fim announced that a control tire would be imposed on motogp for the 2009 season and michelin did not enter a bid effectively ending its participation in the series at the end of 2008 . 19 20 21 22 michelin have returned to motogp in 2016 as official tire supplier after bridgestone s withdrawal from the series at the end of the 2015 . formula one edit see also formula one tyres michelin first competed in the 1977 formula one season when renault started development of their turbocharged f1 car . michelin introduced radial tire technology to formula one and won the formula one drivers championship with brabham and mclaren before withdrawing at the end of 1984 . the company returned to formula one in 2001 supplying the williams jaguar benetton renamed renault in 2002 prost and minardi teams . toyota joined f1 in 2002 with michelin tires and mclaren also signed up with the company . michelin tires were initially uncompetitive but by the 2005 season were totally dominant . this was partly because the new regulations stated that tires must last the whole race distance and qualifying and partly because only one top team ferrari was running bridgestones and so had to do much of the development work . michelin in contrast had much more testing and race data provided by the larger number of teams running their tires . following the debacle of the 2005 united states grand prix where because of safety concerns michelin would not allow the teams it supplies to race michelin s share price fell by 2.5 % though it recovered later the same day . on 28 june michelin announced that it would offer compensation to all race fans who had bought tickets for the grand prix . the company committed to refunding the price of all tickets for the race . additionally it announced that it would provide 20 000 complimentary tickets for the 2006 race to spectators who had attended the 2005 event . michelin has had a difficult relationship with the sport s governing body the fia since around 2003 and this escalated to apparent disdain between the two parties during the 2005 season . the most high profile disagreement was at the united states grand prix and the acrimony afterwards . michelin criticised the fia s intention to move to a single source i.e. one brand tire from 2008 and threatened to withdraw from the sport . in a public rebuke fia president max mosley wrote there are simple arguments for a single tire and if michelin boss douard michelin is not aware of this he shows an almost comical lack of knowledge of modern formula one . another bone of contention has been the reintroduction of tire changes during pit stops from 2006 . michelin criticised the move claiming this event illustrates f1 s problems of incoherent decision making and lack of transparency . in december 2005 and as a result of the difficult relationship with the sport s governing body michelin announced that it would not extend its involvement in formula one beyond the 2006 season . 23 bridgestone was then the sole supplier of tires to formula one until the end of the 2010 season with pirelli providing tires for 2011 . the last race won on michelin tires in formula one was the 2006 japanese grand prix fernando alonso benefitting after the ferrari engine of michael schumacher failed during the race . this gave michelin a second consecutive constructors championship win with the 2005 and 2006 after bridgestone s seven year winning streak and brought to a total of four the number of titles for michelin since this championship s inception back in the 1958 formula one season ; michelin s other titles were in the 1979 and 1984 seasons . endurance racing edit michelin is involved in endurance races such as the 24 hours of le mans and