Michelin named most valuable tire brand by Brand Finance Group

LONDON—Michelin is the world's most valuable tire brand for a second straight year, according to a ranking by Brand Finance Group, a London-based business valuation and strategy consultancy.

Michelin was rated No. 1 despite an 8.8 percent drop in brand value, to $7.23 billion from $7.93 billion. Brand Finance did not elaborate on its reasons for rating the brand No. 1 in its Automotive Industry 2019 report.

In general, the group defines brand value as the value of the trademark and associated marketing intellectual property within the branded business. Last year, Brand Finance Brand cited Michelin's strong research and development position and its successes in motorsports.

Bridgestone and Continental were ranked No. 2 and No. 3, respectively, for the second straight year, although both brands' value dropped versus 2018. Bridgestone was the No. 1 brand in 2017.

Brand Finance rated Dunlop as more valuable than Goodyear, reversing their positions from the 2018 rankings, based on a 1.4 percent increase in Dunlop's brand value and a 10.4 percent drop in Goodyear's. Goodyear controls rights to the Dunlop brand in most tire categories in the Americas and Europe, while Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd. controls those rights throughout Asia, Oceania and most of Africa/Middle East.

Brand Finance Group's ratings show seven of the 10 brands rated have lower brand values this year versus 2018, including a 28.3 percent drop by the Continental brand.

In general, Brand Finance said the industry's rating suffered significantly, a trend it attributed to market uncertainties and a "drastic change" in customer demands.

Italy's Pirelli and Japan's Sumitomo are the two other tire brands whose values increased—up 6 percent to $1.6 billion and 33 percent to $801 million, respectively—last year.

Brand Finance said the Pirelli and Sumitomo brands' strong performances were driven by their commitment to diversification and efforts to differentiate their brands from competitors.

Michelin also is rated by Brand Finance as the "strongest" brand—a separate rating based on a brand's performance on intangible measures, relative to its competitors—and is the only tire brand with Brand Finance's "AAA+" brand strength rating.

Michelin was rated No. 1 ahead of Pirelli, Bridgestone, Continental and Goodyear. Conti jumped into the Top 5 from No. 6 last year.

Brand Finance rates Mercedes as the most valuable car brand ahead of Toyota, Volkswagen, BMW and Porsche.