Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • European Rubber Journal
  • Plastics News
  • Tire Business
web
Subscribe
  • Login
  • Register
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Automotive
    • Tire
    • Non-Tire
    • Suppliers
    • Silicone
    • Latex
    • Coronavirus
    • Executive Action
    • Government/Legal
    • Opinion
    • Technical Notebooks
    • Women in Tire & Rubber
    • ITEC
    • International Elastomer Show
    • HEXPOL Sponsored Content
    • Goodyear's global footprint would get strategic boost with Cooper Tire deal
      Goodyear-Cooper Tire deal 'a transactional milestone'
      Cooper recalling 430,000+ whitewall LT tires in multiple brands
      Yokohama sets ambitious goals through 2023
    • Goodyear's global footprint would get strategic boost with Cooper Tire deal
      Goodyear-Cooper Tire deal 'a transactional milestone'
      9 Goodyear-Cooper Tire stories you may have missed
      Cooper recalling 430,000+ whitewall LT tires in multiple brands
    • USTMA, NAM among associations backing passage of Equality Act
      ASC seeks presenters for fall convention
      Birla Carbon again recognized for sustainability efforts
      Carlisle TyrFil out with new recycling technology
    • Zeon receives pair of ISO certifications
      Trinseo taps K.D. Feddersen to supply soft-touch elastomers
      New products: MonTech offering customized bale cutters
      Synthomer dismisses takeover reports
    • Stockwell Elastomerics' legacy moves on
      Larger mixers tout economies of scale, along with the need for speed
      Hexpol, Bloom deal with COVID, reorganization, fire since start of 2020
      Small, mid-size compounders keep value, agility, service 'in the mix'
    • Ohio firm focuses on making better masks in U.S.
      U.S. to increase NBR, make gloves using Defense Production Act
      Tire Cologne canceled; rescheduled for 2022
      Tire Technology Expo canceled for 2021
    • 9 Goodyear-Cooper Tire stories you may have missed
      Goodyear promotes Chris Helsel, expanding his global technology, operational role
      Stockwell Elastomerics' legacy moves on
      Dana Inc. hires Byron Foster in executive role
    • 9 Goodyear-Cooper Tire stories you may have missed
      Cooper recalling 430,000+ whitewall LT tires in multiple brands
      USTMA, NAM among associations backing passage of Equality Act
      Conti recalling 94,000 LT/SUV tires
    • Column: Discussions of race, equality may mean uncomfortable moments
      Column: Business trips possible because of essential workers
      Editorial: Associations see opportunity for progress under new administration
      Editorial: Against a backdrop of turmoil, M&A deals give glimpse of normalcy
    • Studying RPA ASTM methods for detecting compound quality differences
      Damage mechanism in oil and gas formulations during downhole testing
      Advancements in synchronous drive belt design for industrial and consumer markets
      Effects of multiple repurposed materials for reinforcements of standard rubber compounds
    • Rubber Division introduces WORD webinar series
      WORD panelists say evolution, authenticity keys to success
      New video celebrates women in rubber industry
      ITEC panelists say women can thrive in tire industry
    • Goodyear recognized by Lockheed Martin as 'elite supplier'
      EV tire advancements to help secure future
      Lambillotte: Only question on AVs is timing
      CAR official says EV future brighter than autonomous
    • Rubber Division introduces WORD webinar series
      Rubber Division seeks abstracts for 200th Technical Meeting
      WORD panelists say evolution, authenticity keys to success
      IEC keynote: Communication key to logistics
    • Sponsored By HEXPOL Compounding
      Faster Access to Your Polymer Compounding Experts Around the World
      Sponsored By HEXPOL Compounding
      Take a walk thru a HEXPOL Lab
      Sponsored By HEXPOL Compounding
      HEXPOL offers a unique selection of High Performance Elastomers to match your application requirements
      Sponsored By HEXPOL Compounding
      It’s what you can’t see that makes the Difference at HEXPOL
  • Blogs
    • Products
    • Wacky World of Rubber
    • New Products: Starrett expands field-of-view for multi-sensor vision system
      New Products: Nova thinks outside the box with sealing tech
      New Products: MonTech introduces 1,500 kN lab press
      New products: 3M introduces new durable, pliable medical adhesive
    • Wacky World of Rubber: How Trelleborg, teens sealed a spot in the world record book
      Wacky World of Rubber: Of chicken and feet, but not chicken feet
      Wacky World of Rubber: Time to go mattress shopping
      Wacky World of Rubber: Because nothing says football like 'frunk' shrimp
  • Newsletters
    • Rubber in Automotive
    • Silicone News
    • Latex News
    • Sign Up for Newsletters
    • Goodyear's global footprint would get strategic boost with Cooper Tire deal
      Goodyear-Cooper Tire deal 'a transactional milestone'
      Cooper recalling 430,000+ whitewall LT tires in multiple brands
      Yokohama sets ambitious goals through 2023
    • Stockwell Elastomerics' legacy moves on
      Larger mixers tout economies of scale, along with the need for speed
      Hexpol, Bloom deal with COVID, reorganization, fire since start of 2020
      Small, mid-size compounders keep value, agility, service 'in the mix'
    • Sri Trang Gloves starts major capacity expansion
      Synthomer dismisses takeover reports
      Combined Goodyear-Cooper Tire company has tire tech, sustainability edge
      Helixtap launches new digital marketplace for rubber
  • Multimedia
    • Videos
    • Photo Galleries
  • Directory
  • Resources
    • Classifieds & Mold Mart
    • Sponsored Content
    • White Papers
    • Sponsored By HB Chemical
      Above and Beyond with HB Chemical
      Sponsored By HB Chemical
      The Company Behind the Inventory
      Sponsored By French Oil Mill Machinery
      Process Improvement, Cost Reduction with Custom Press Systems
      Sponsored By HB Chemical
      Above and Beyond with HB Chemical
    • Sponsored By Uncountable Inc.
      Labs of the Future: How to Choose a Laboratory Information Management System in 2021
      Sponsored By Uncountable Inc.
      Cooper Standard deploys lab informatics platform to synchronize R&D
      Sponsored By Elkem
      LSR Selectâ„¢: A solution to improve your financial impact in molding applications
      Sponsored By HEXPOL Compounding
      Peroxide Cureable Silicone Injection Molding
  • Data
  • Events
    • RPN Events
    • RPN Livestreams/Webinars
    • Industry Events
    • Past Events
    • ITEC Library
    • International Silicone Conference Library
    • 2021 Healthcare Elastomers Virtual Edition
      2021 Rubber in Automotive Virtual Edition
      2021 International Latex Conference Virtual Edition
      2022 ITEC
  • Advertise
  • DIGITAL EDITION
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. Tire
September 01, 2020 09:59 AM

Michelin ends Bridgestone's 11-year reign as world's No. 1 tire maker

Bruce Davis
Tire Business
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Print

    With a few notable exceptions, fiscal 2019 was a flat to down year for most of the world's leading tire makers.

    One of those exceptions, however, was Michelin, which saw sales improve by nearly 10 percent, helping push the French company to the top rung of Rubber & Plastics News' annual ranking of tire makers, ending Bridgestone Corp.'s run of 11 straight years as No. 1.

    Michelin's sales jump was aided measurably by a pair of acquisitions—the $1.45 billion buyout of off-road tire specialist Camso in mid-2018 and the $545 million takeover of Indonesian tire maker P.T. Multistrada Arah Sarana TBK in early 2019.

    Rubber & Plastics News calculates Michelin's tire manufacturing-related revenue in 2019 at $25 billion, sufficient to edge past Bridgestone, which is a solid No. 2 at $24.3 billion.

    For the annual Top 75 Ranking, Rubber & Plastics News rates the tire makers on their revenue from the sale of tires they've manufactured in order to achieve a more equitable "apples-to-apples" comparison.

    Excluded are items such as third-party sales of steel cord, synthetic rubber or carbon black, as well as estimates for non-tire items such as auto-service-related revenue at company-owned retail stores.

    Bridgestone, Michelin, Goodyear and Continental, for example, report hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars in revenue from their respective captive retail networks, which generate measurable shares of their revenue from automotive-service-related activities and sales of tire brands other than their own.

    Michelin said in 2018 that combining the Camso business with its own OTR tire assets would create an "OTR mobility solutions" business with 26 plants, roughly 12,000 employees and annual sales exceeding $2 billion.

    Bridgestone noted in its annual report that it experienced lower sales in 2019 in all of its major regional markets in both its consumer and commercial tire segments, while business in specialty tires was on par with fiscal 2018.

    In its annual report, Michelin attributed its increased sales to the consolidation of the Camso and Multistrada acquisitions as well as to improved price/mix and favorable currency-exchange factors. Tire volumes actually decreased.

    Goodyear
    Goodyear was ranked as the third largest tire maker, according to Rubber & Plastics News data.

    Goodyear remained a solid No. 3 in the rankings at $13.7 billion, but the gap between Goodyear and No. 4 Continental A.G. narrowed for a second straight year, based on a 4.7 percent drop in sales by Goodyear and a 1 percent increase by Continental's tire business.

    The next four spots in the ranking remained unchanged.

    Japan's Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd. retained the No. 5 spot ahead of Pirelli & C. S.p.A., Hankook Tire Co. Ltd. and Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd.

    Taiwan's Cheng Shin Rubber Industry Co. Ltd./Maxxis International regained the No. 9 spot with marginal sales growth and a dip in sales by China's Zhongce Rubber Group Co. Ltd.

    Michelin's takeover of Cikarang, Indonesia-based Multistrada—which goes to market with the Achilles brand—provides the French tire maker with more than 180,000 metric tons of annual production capacity and strengthens its presence in the fast-growing Indonesian/Asian market.

    While Michelin is considered No. 1 worldwide in tire sales revenue, Bridgestone remains the No. 1 tire company in Asia—its "home" market—as well as in North America. Michelin has the clear lead in Europe, where Bridgestone is No. 3 behind Continental A.G.

    An analysis of the leading tire companies' sales data shows Michelin to be the most well balanced, with its sales spread more equally among the three major regions—Americas, Asia-Pacific and Europe.

    That analysis also shows how important North America is to multiple non-U.S.-based companies, including Bridgestone, which derives nearly 45 percent of its global tire business revenue there, nearly on par with Goodyear.

    The research also shows that Toyo Tire Corp. derives more than half of its tire sales from business in North America, while Hankook Tire and Nexen Tire generate nearly a third of their revenue there.

    Bridgestone, the No. 2 tire maker, experienced lower sales in 2019 in all of its major regional markets in both its consumer and commercial tire segments.

    Bridgestone's position near the top of the global rankings is solidified by a minority 43.6 percent ownership stake it holds in Turkey's BRISA/Bridgestone-Sabanci Tire Mfg. (No. 40 with 2019 sales of $626 million). It also holds a 3 percent stake in Finland's Nokian Tyres P.L.C.

    Singapore-headquartered Giti Tire Pte. Ltd. slipped back ahead of Japan's Toyo Tire Corp. into 11th and China's Linglong Group Co. Ltd. advanced three spots to 14th on its own stronger sales and slight sales declines by Apollo Tyres Ltd. and MRF Ltd. of India.

    New to the rankings this year are:

    • Sun Tire & Wheel Systems, the Chennai, India-based producer of predominantly solid industrial tires under the Numa, Talon, Sunbear and Solo brands, debuting at No. 24 with fiscal 2019 sales of $1.2 billion.
    • Shandong Cocrea Tyre Co. Ltd., a Linyi City, Shandong-based company that goes to market under the Allround, Befriend and Cocrea brands. It reported sales of $250.3 million last year, good for No. 59 on the list.
    • Hung-A Co. Ltd., a Yangsan, South Korea-based producer of pneumatic and solid industrial tires, whose 2019 sales of $147.3 million earned it the No. 70spot on this year's ranking.
    • Ozka Lastik ve Kaucuk Sanayi Ticaraet A.S., the Cocaeli, Turkey-based producer of agricultural and other off-road tires. It debuts at No. 72 with sales of $121 million.

    In addition, two firms from Iran—Barez Tire Group of Tehran and Artawheel Tyre Co. of Ardebil—returned to the Top 75 ranking after a few years' absence. Barez appears at No. 46 with sales of $541.2 million and Artawheel at No. 58 with sales of $286 million.

    Also, Jiangsu General Science Technology Co. Ltd., the Jiangsu, China-based tire maker that goes to market in North America with the TBB brand, appears in the Top 75 ranking for the first time under that name. Previously it was listed as Jiangshu Tongyong Co. Ltd.

    Exiting the Top 75 were Birla Tyres Ltd. of India, Dunlop Aircraft Tyres Ltd. of the United Kingdom and General Tyre & Rubber Co. of Pakistan Ltd., because they were eclipsed by other companies with greater sales. P.T. Multistrada was acquired by Michelin.

    Twenty-eight of the companies in the Top 75 are from China, including four among the top 20—Zhongce Rubber Group Co. Ltd. (No. 10), Linglong Group Co. Ltd. (No. 14), Sailun Jinyu Tyre Co. Ltd. (No. 17), and Shandong Hengfeng Tyre Co. Ltd. (No. 20).

    Other countries represented in the ranking are: India (six companies); Taiwan and the U.S. (five each); Japan and South Korea (four each); Italy and Turkey (three each); Iran, Thailand, Russia and Vietnam (two each); and one based in Argentina, Belarus, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Singapore.

    Thirteen of the 24 publicly traded companies outlined in this report suffered tire business sales declines in 2019 versus 2018, while two companies—Turkey's Brisa/Bridgestone (18.7 percent) and Petlas Tyre Industry & Trade (17.2 percent)—recorded double-digit growth.

    Overall, the estimated value of the world tire industry's sales was $167 billion, down 1.2 percent versus 2018.

    Kumho Tire saw the highest sales per employee at $429,871.

    Collectively, the top 10 tire companies accounted for nearly 63 percent of the world's tire sales last year—on par with the 2019 ranking.

    The average operating earnings ratio among the 24 publicly traded companies that Rubber & Plastics News monitors for this report was 10.6 percent, up nearly a full point from the 9.9 percent recorded in 2018, reversing two years of decline.

    Sixteen of the 24 companies reported lower operating income in 2019 versus 2018 with two firms—Kumho Tire Co. Inc. and Titan International Inc.—in the red on an operating basis.

    Italy's Pirelli, India's Balkrishna Industries Ltd. and Finland's Nokian Tyres were the most profitable, percentage-wise, with 24.6 percent, 23.5 percent and 19.8 percent operating ratios, respectively, research shows.

    The average net income ratio for the group of 24 was 3.1 percent, a three-point drop from 2018, as five companies—Continental, Goodyear, Trelleborg A.B., Kumho Tire and Titan—reported net losses in fiscal 2019 and six others reported lower net earnings.

    The average sales per employee for the 24 publicly traded companies that provided employment data was $211,573, down just a few dollars from the 2018 figure.

    Kumho Tire saw the highest sales per employee at $429,871, ahead of Nokian Tyres at $368,682, Cooper Tire at $315,665 and Nexen Tire at $293,956.

    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Rubber & Plastics News wants to hear from its readers. If you want to express your opinion on a story or issue, email your letter to Editor Bruce Meyer at [email protected].

    SIGN UP FOR NEWSLETTERS
    EMAIL ADDRESS

    Please enter a valid email address.

    Please enter your email address.

    Please verify captcha.

    Please select at least one newsletter to subscribe.

    Get our newsletters

    Staying current is easy with Rubber & Plastics News delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge.

    Subscribe Today

    Subscribe to Rubber & Plastics News to get the best coverage and leading insights in the industry.

    SUBSCRIBE
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Twitter

    MISSION

    To serve companies in the global rubber product industry by delivering news, industry insights, opinions and technical information.

    web
    Contact Us

    2291 Riverfront Pkwy, Suite 1000
    Cuyahoga Falls,
    OH 44221

    Customer Service:
    877-320-1726

    Resources
    • About Us
    • Digital Edition
    • Contact the Staff
    • Advertise
    • Order Reprints
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    • Terms of Service
    • Careers
    • Ad Choices Ad Choices
    • Sitemap
    Partner Sites
    • Tire Business
    • European Rubber Journal
    • Plastics News
    • Plastics News China
    • Urethanes Technology
    • Automotive News
    • Crain Brands
    Copyright © 1996-2021. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Automotive
      • Tire
      • Non-Tire
      • Suppliers
      • Silicone
      • Latex
      • Coronavirus
      • Executive Action
      • Government/Legal
      • Opinion
      • Technical Notebooks
      • Women in Tire & Rubber
      • ITEC
      • International Elastomer Show
      • HEXPOL Sponsored Content
    • Blogs
      • Products
      • Wacky World of Rubber
    • Newsletters
      • Rubber in Automotive
      • Silicone News
      • Latex News
      • Sign Up for Newsletters
    • Multimedia
      • Videos
      • Photo Galleries
    • Directory
    • Resources
      • Classifieds & Mold Mart
      • Sponsored Content
      • White Papers
    • Data
    • Events
      • RPN Events
      • RPN Livestreams/Webinars
      • Industry Events
      • Past Events
      • ITEC Library
      • International Silicone Conference Library
    • Advertise
    • DIGITAL EDITION