I just completed a very interesting call from a consulting company in France doing work on behalf of Michelin. Michelin engaged the consultants to interview collectors with "modern classics", cars in the ~1980-2005 range, with regards to their tire choices and reasoning behind them.
Michelin has reduced their coverage of certain cars from this period including some Porsche and appear to be reexamining that market segment. While Michelin had maintained offerings for them, in recent years Pirelli and others including Vredestein have entered, expanded (or reentered) in the classic segment and I speculate that is what may be driving Michelin to look at their market coverage.
Very engaging discussion on how I select tires (quality and originality), what I prioritize (quality, performance), manufacturers I prefer (in no order; Conti, Michelin, Pirelli and Vredestein), and how I value manufacturer specs eg. Porsche "N(x)" & BMW "*". The conversation then went into the tire industry and collector car environments in Europe and here. The principal of the consulting firm and her husband are auto and motorcycle collectors, so it was refreshing to talk with consultants, especially marketing consultants who are intimately familiar with the subject.
Also great to see Michelin reaching out to the purchasing public.
One thing worth noting is that France and I would expect all of Europe, is also seeing a loss of indy shops specializing on classics and it is impacting the hobby; the consultant said that values of certain complex, but traditionally "blue chip" cars such as the MB 300SL are seeing a bit of a decline as folks find them increasingly challenging to properly service.
Michelin has reduced their coverage of certain cars from this period including some Porsche and appear to be reexamining that market segment. While Michelin had maintained offerings for them, in recent years Pirelli and others including Vredestein have entered, expanded (or reentered) in the classic segment and I speculate that is what may be driving Michelin to look at their market coverage.
Very engaging discussion on how I select tires (quality and originality), what I prioritize (quality, performance), manufacturers I prefer (in no order; Conti, Michelin, Pirelli and Vredestein), and how I value manufacturer specs eg. Porsche "N(x)" & BMW "*". The conversation then went into the tire industry and collector car environments in Europe and here. The principal of the consulting firm and her husband are auto and motorcycle collectors, so it was refreshing to talk with consultants, especially marketing consultants who are intimately familiar with the subject.
Also great to see Michelin reaching out to the purchasing public.
One thing worth noting is that France and I would expect all of Europe, is also seeing a loss of indy shops specializing on classics and it is impacting the hobby; the consultant said that values of certain complex, but traditionally "blue chip" cars such as the MB 300SL are seeing a bit of a decline as folks find them increasingly challenging to properly service.
Last edited:
