Allopneus.com investment from Michelin

Michelin buys 40% of online tyre retailer Allopneus

Based at Aix-en-Provence, Allopneus sold some 3 million tires in France in 2014, and is enjoying strong growth, accounting today for 7% of the French market. Run by Didier Blaise, its founder, the Allopneus Group today employs more than 200 people and has made its mark through a high-performance business model and the reliability of its services to become the e-commerce leader for tires in France.

Michelin today announced its acquisition of a 40% stake in Allopneus SAS, the leading French internet tyre retailer on the web, for €60 million.

One in two motorists intending to buy new tires seeks detailed information in the weeks preceding the purchase. In France, three out of four consumers seek this information online and currently 13% of them will make their actual purchase online.

By building a strategic partnership with Allopneus, Michelin will expand its online range and extend its commercial presence. The Michelin Group will become more adept at dealing with the different modes of online and offline searches and purchases, thereby pursuing its strategy to improve the services offered to customers.

The minority shareholding of the Michelin Group in Allopneus is entirely consistent with the strategic line pursued by Jean-Dominique Senard Group CEO: "Getting Michelin to grow means understanding our markets in detail, so as to anticipate and satisfy the needs of our customers. This alliance between two pragmatic companies manifests our desire to satisfy motorists to whom we are able to offer a simplified and financially-advantageous path from searching for information on the Internet through to getting their tires fitted by professionals."
This shareholding is subject to validation from the French Competition Authority.

Michelin's mission, as leader in the tire industry, is to make a sustainable contribution to the mobility of people and goods. To this end, the Group manufactures, markets and distributes tires for all types of vehicles. Michelin also proposes innovative digital services, such as digital management of vehicle fleets and mobility support tools. It publishes tourist guides, hotel and restaurant guides, maps and road atlases. The Group, with its head office in Clermont-Ferrand (France), is present in 170 countries, employs 112,300 people worldwide and has 68 production sites in 17 countries. It possesses a technology centre for R&D spread around Europe, North America and Asia.