GREENVILLE, N.C. — "Goodbye 18-wheeler, hello 10-wheeler."

That’s the message from Con-way’s Bruce Stockton. He was talking about the fact that his firm has outfitted every one of its 11,000-plus tractors with single-wide drive tires.

"Somebody’s going to have to write a new song about that," he joked.

He was speaking at a special ceremony at the Michelin North America headquarters here this week as Michelin officials watched the millionth X-One wide-base tire roll off the assembly line.

The first wide-based X-One single was produced 10 years ago.

The milestone, Michelin says, means the wide-based tire has moved from niche to mainstream — at least in the U.S.  

X One tires can save more than 700 pounds per truck

Since that time, the range of X-Ones has broadened from just over-the-road to include many other applications, although in Canada market growth has been slow because of weight and dimension rules restricting the use of single tires.

However, in recent years both Quebec and Ontario have allowed for full parity between single tires and a set of duals per axle; and most other provinces have significantly raised the weight limit to make spec’ing easier.

Michelin, arguably more than any other supplier, has worked tirelessly to change the rules in Canada.

Gilbert Duquette of Boucherville’s Robert Transport, a wide-based pioneer, thanked Michelin staff for their support in overcoming the legal obstacles. "We trusted the tire, and the people in Michelin worked with us,” he said. "We’re going to put as many tires as we can on our fleet.”

Here’s what Michelin North America’s COO Francois Corbin said about the millionth-tire announcement: “This significant milestone — along with the breadth of wide single products we offer — proves that the X One tire is now a mainstream solution for fleet customers.

"Our goal all along has been to provide products that bring value to trucking fleets and owner-operators. The X-One tire has delivered that value and will continue to deliver on that promise.”

Company officials say that since 2000, with X-One tires, fleets have gained up to 10 percent in fuel efficiency, resulting in more than 63 million gallons of fuel saved.

For a fleet with 1,000 trucks, fitting X-One tires can lead to a potential savings of 17,000 metric tons of CO2 of emissions per year, or the equivalent of removing 3,400 cars from the road, the company says.

Furthermore, Michelin says in addition to the fuel savings, truck fleets are realizing the weight savings benefit of X-One tires.

Because of the reduced weight, trucks with X One tires can save more than 700 pounds per truck, which leads to fewer trucks on the road for the same amount of load, resulting in increased freight efficiency and additional emission savings.