The global French tire giant Michelin, which announced at the end of 2024 the closure of two factories, in Vannes and Cholet, where 1,254 people work, explained this Wednesday to senators that competition from tires from China, as well as energy and wage costs in France, had forced Michelin to validate the closure of these two factories in France. Its CEO, Florent Menegaux, declared this Wednesday before the Senate Economic Affairs Committee that this situation was not “more tenable (…) We have hyper-competition, massive overcapacity in the factories”.
France has incredible talent
Producing a tire in Europe rather than in Asia would thus have globally become, for Michelin, “twice as expensive”. Florent Menegaux therefore explained to the Senate what must be done to become competitive again. “To maintain our industrial tool in Europe, we must have a compact, hyper-productive tool (…) We must invest massively in robotization.”
However, the CEO of the Clermont-Ferrand manufacturer also recalled the forces present in our territory. “France has tremendous assets, with remarkable infrastructure, large-scale carbon-free electricity, a little too expensive but available, well-trained people, a pre-existing industrial fabric… But our industry needs regulatory, fiscal and environmental stability. ”
