Michelin’s X Radial Truck Tire Rolls 60 Years
STOKE-ON-TRENT, UK. — Introduced in 1952, Michelin celebrates the 60th anniversary of the world’s first radial truck tire.
The launch of the first Michelin X Radial truck tire helped transform the road transport industry, as radials made trucking safer and more efficient. In 2011, radial tires accounted for 100 percent of the western European truck-tire market. Worldwide, Michelin estimates that radials now account for 73 percent of truck tires.
It all actually began in 1946, when a Michelin researcher, Marius Mignol, invented the “Michelin X” steel radial tire for cars, soon following with the launch of the X Radial truck tire in 1952.
“Michelin’s history has been shaped by innovation and there’s no better example of that than the radial tire,” said Sharn Samra, head of Michelin Truck Marketing for the UK and Republic of Ireland. “Marius Mignol conducted secret research in occupied France during World War II to develop the Michelin X, and all these years later his dedication to innovation continues to run through our technical culture,” she said.
A decade after launching the X Radial truck tire, Michelin ran a series of high-profile field tests across Europe in 1962, proving a fuel saving of 13.8 percent over conventional cross-ply truck tires.
The ‘X’ is Michelin’s trademark for its radial tires and is making its most recent appearance in the truck market on the current “X MultiWay 3D” tire, which has just been launched in the UK’s most popular commercial vehicle tire size, the 295/80 R 22.5.
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People forget that the Michelin X Radial Truck/Lorry tyre pattern was adapted and used for bicycle tyres in the seventies in cross ply form. Also not many people realise that Corgi use the Michelin X Radial truck tyre for both their rubber and plastic tyres on their truck models and you can even get reproduction Corgi Toys truck tyres both with and without the Corgi Toys logo. To avoid copyright Corgi only uses the shoulder pattern from the Michelin truck tyre not the actual zig zag tread. Are old enough to remember a remould version was also made. Thanks Michelin for a most memorable and most enduring tyre ever plus giving me and many others a great model tyre from Corgi without realising it!