In fairness, that is kind of like comparing McDonald's to Rally's. Both make fast food, but one has been around a crap-ton longer, one is a household name, and one is slightly larger and more influential than the other.Originally Posted by RoadToad
Titan makes Farm Tires and Industrial/Off-The-Road Tires. Their Farm Tire arm came about through acquisition of Goodyear's Farm Tire division a few years back. They are a good American company, but not even in the same atmosphere compared to the size of Michelin. Michelin is one of the oldest and largest rubber companies in the world. They are highly diversified with a large portfolio of brands and tire segments. They make Farm and Industrial/Off-The-Road Tires like Titan...but are times larger in consumer tires, truck tires, motorcycle tires, bicycle tires, racing tires, you name it. Titan doesn't make any of that stuff - Very specialized. Michelin, Bridgestone, and Goodyear bounce back and forth as the largest rubber manufacturers in the world. Michelin owns other large brands like BF Goodrich, Uniroyal...produces house brand tires all over the world...original equipment on many vehicles...and a lot of their plants are outside France. The tires that are on the pavement in the United States likely weren't built in France. They were built in South Carolina, Oklahoma, etc...with American workers.
I do know from experience that the upper management of Michelin...the French...are, shall we say, Le-Arrogant. HOWEVER, that company makes outstanding products and markets them in such a way that people come in to tire stores asking for Michelin. A whole lot of American guys running American tire stores make a whole lot of American money selling Michelin tires to Americans. Period. AND, they are the most expensive of the major brands. They are more profitable because they have marketed themselves so strongly that they can demand a premium price. The old wrinkled baby riding in a Michelin Tire still ranks as one of the best pieces of branded advertising in history. That ad is still taught in college marketing courses.
Titan makes good tires too and does well for themselves, but it's just Farm Tires and Industrial Tires. Apples to oranges, as far as the scope of their company and the scope of somebody like Michelin.
I'm no expert on French workers or French manufacturing, but as far as the tire industry is concerned, there aint a bunch of people outside of France/Europe lined up to open tire plants in France. France is not where you go to make a bottom-line impact on your cost of manufacturing, I know that. It's China, Southeast Asia...or now India is the next up-and-comer in the tire manufacturing market. They are basically China, 20 years ago. You have to also remember that this is where the world's natural rubber is grown. Couple that with cheap labor and you've got a game-changer as far as cost of manufacturing. Also, part of the issue now with American tire companies, is that the products coming out of these Asian countries are no longer junk. They were at first, and the American companies could counter with a quality gap. Now, their technology is catching up to others. (Partly because the ******** steal it, but that's another topic.) We import commercial truck tires from China, made in plants by Chinese labor, that perform right up there with the major brands as far as mileage and dependability...for 20% less money. If you are a huge fleet of tractor trailers, reducing your tire expense by 20% on tires that run just as long...that's a big deal.
If I were going to build a tire plant outside of the US for some reason, it sure wouldn't be in Frenchie-land...or anywhere in Europe, for that matter.
Reply With Quote
