When it comes to Michelin, many people’s first reaction may be “Michelin restaurant”.
As everyone knows, the “main business” of this century-old multinational company also hides a set of codes for industrial development and consumption potential.
At the end of May, Michelin ushered in the milestone of the 25th anniversary of the Shanghai factory.
In the past year, Michelin China’s performance reached a record high; this year, Michelin’s “future factory” – the second phase of the Shanghai factory reconstruction and expansion project (Magnolia Project) was put into production. The production capacity is steadily increasing, and the first 22-inch high-performance tire is about to roll off the production line.
Interestingly, looking at Michelin China’s performance profile, or calling it the “Michelin Tire Index” is more intuitive, we find not only the market confidence of foreign-funded enterprises in China, but also the surging momentum generated by the linkage of China’s industrial transformation, consumption upgrading and global supply.
### The “index” corresponds to the “slice chart” of China’s industrial development
Michelin’s continued increase in investment in Shanghai is closely related to its rising performance in the Chinese market.
“It has been 25 years since the construction of the Shanghai factory in 2001, and Michelin China’s sales have been growing at a high speed.” Ye Fei, president and CEO of Michelin Greater China and Mongolia, revealed that in 2025, the company’s sales and profit growth will reach historical highs, and segmented businesses such as original and replacement tires for passenger cars, aircraft tires, mining tires, motorcycles and bicycle tires are all booming, and some “indexes” have even hit new highs.
We might as well take a look at what the “Michelin Tire Index” corresponds to as a “slice map” of China’s industrial development.
The passenger car market is the largest application area for tires.
Data shows that in 2025, my country’s automobile production and sales will exceed 34 million units, setting another record high.
Among them, the production and sales of new energy vehicles were 16.626 million and 16.49 million respectively, a year-on-year increase of 29% and 28.2% respectively, ranking first in the world for 11 consecutive years, and continuing to demonstrate strong development resilience and vitality.
“Thanks to the accelerated release of new kinetic energy in China’s passenger car market, we have firmly seized the market opportunity.” Ye Fei mentioned the new energy vehicle market, which accounts for almost 50% of new car sales. “Michelin has made early arrangements and reached cooperation with China’s mainstream new energy vehicle manufacturers. In the mid-to-high-end new energy market
The market share exceeds 30%, which not only brings continued growth in performance, but also gives us more confidence, because today’s growth in the original equipment market will definitely bring more room for growth in the replacement market in the future.”
In addition to automobile tires, the aircraft tire business has also reached a record high.
Behind this is the continued expansion of the “visa-free circle of friends” and the explosion of the domestic tourism market.
In 2025, the country’s civil aviation will transport 770 million passengers, make 5.547 million transport flights, and domestic residents will make 6.522 billion trips.
Ye Fei said: “The vigorous development of the cultural and tourism market is mapped to the industrial chain, boosting the sales of aircraft tires.”
This logic is also true on the consumer side.
In the field of e-commerce, the company has in-depth cooperation with platforms such as JD.com, Alibaba, and Pinduoduo in the past three years. More than 20% of tire sales have “rolled” online, and channel changes have opened up a new growth curve for traditional industrial products.
In the field of motorcycles, Michelin only entered the high-end tire product line in the Chinese mainland market in 2018. Since then, it has continued to grow rapidly for six consecutive years, hitting new highs every year.
### The Shanghai factory maps the “global coordinates” of “Made in China”
This tire is still growing resiliently.
36 seconds, this is the time it takes for Michelin’s Shanghai factory to produce a tire.
In the molding workshop of the factory, the reporter saw that strip materials were combined and wrapped on the automated production line to produce unshaped “raw tires”. The whole process was like wrapping buns.
Then the “raw tires” enter the vulcanization workshop to be “steamed” and eventually become usable “ripe tires.”
There is another key number behind 36 seconds: the response speed of 5 days.
Ye Fei said that in the past, tire factories usually had to schedule production one month in advance, but now that China’s new energy vehicle industry is changing rapidly, car companies are facing a changing market environment and are in urgent need of flexible response and flexible production, which also puts forward higher requirements for foreign-funded companies.
“If you want to have China’s speed, China’s innovation, and China’s understanding, you need China’s decision-making.” He revealed that Michelin’s Shanghai factory not only represents investment confidence, but also marks the in-depth authorization of China’s business.
Currently, the Shanghai factory can deliver goods within 5 days after customers request them, and supports small batch production of a minimum of 100 tires.
This agile response capability is the core competitiveness of Michelin Shanghai’s “Future Factory”.
In January this year, the Michelin Magnolia project was put into operation, which is also its first “future factory” demonstration project in the world.
Zhu Haiyan, general manager of Shanghai Michelin Tire Co., Ltd., said that the overall ramp-up progress of the second-phase factory is in line with expectations, and all key indicators have been steadily achieved. Some production lines are in the stage of gradually releasing production capacity. The first 22-inch tire is expected to roll off the production line in the third quarter as planned.
She also revealed that the second phase of the factory will focus on large-size high-performance tires, with about 70% of its production capacity serving new energy models, actively responding to the electrification, intelligence, and high-end upgrade trends in China’s travel field.
The Shanghai factory also maps the “global coordinates” of “Made in China”.
The reporter learned that in terms of performance in 2025, overseas business is also worthy of attention.
For example, the new high performance of mining tires is closely related to exports to overseas markets.
In Ye Fei’s view, the Shanghai factory will gradually become a high-end manufacturing and export base under Michelin’s global layout.
“The Shanghai factory still has the potential to increase production capacity by 4 million to 5 million units, which can meet both domestic original equipment and replacement needs and the new global demand for high-end ‘smart’ tire exports.”
From passenger cars to aircraft, from mining to motorcycles, from domestic demand to overseas, Michelin Tire’s record performance is the “fruit” of China’s ultra-large market, complete industrial chain advantages and consumption structure upgrades.
