Michelin: Tours Over Tires
March 24, 2008

Michelin, the world’s largest tiremaker, plans to invest heavily in expanding the international reach of its maps and guides division to reinforce its brand as the tire market becomes more competitive.

Michelin plans to increase foreign sales of its maps and guides by 2009 through acquisitions and new guides, such as the Tokyo restaurant guide that took Japan by storm last October, the Financial Times reports.

Michelin publishes about 220 guides in 12 languages, and plans to increase this to 18 languages within two years.

André Michelin began offering the customers for his tires a small book to accompany them on their travels through France in 1900. The handbook set out the scarcely known rules of the road for France’s budding automobilistes and also identified the best routes and convenient places to stop along the way for refreshment or repairs. Today the guidebook is no longer free, but Michelin is still using its reputation as a reliable critic of travel and dining to bolster its core tire business, the London newspaper noted.

Michelin isn’t saying what it will invest in its maps and guides division, which today accounts for less than 0.5 percent of its $26 billion in annual sales. Despite GPS navigation systems and Internet mapping services, including its own Via Michelin, the tiremaker said its map and guide business has remained stable, selling some 10 million in 2007.

Posted by at 7:26 AM under Business , Companies | Comments (0) | digg this | Seed Newsvine