“Extreme is our area of expertise”: specialty tires are powering the Michelin Group’s performance and growth
This year, Michelin has turned the spotlight on one of its lesser-known activities, which is nonetheless essential to its strategy: specialty tires.
For the latest edition of its Media Day, the Group welcomed visitors to its Almería Test Center in Spain (CEMA), on June 9 and 10, 2026. The choice of location is no coincidence: this extraordinary facility, which is exposed to some of the harshest climatic conditions in Europe, is the very place where Michelin pushes its tires to their absolute limits.
Specialty tires: extreme use cases and critical challenges where Michelin excels.
In environments where every detail matters and any failure can carry far-reaching operational, economic and human consequences, MICHELIN specialty tires meet extreme challenges as a matter of course.
Whether guaranteeing the safe touchdown of an aircraft, ensuring uninterrupted operations at a mine or maximizing the performance of agricultural machinery in all weathers, these tires play a key role in industries operating under rigorous technical, climatic and regulatory constraints.
Much more than mere components, specialty tires are concentrations of technology, designed to hold up under the harshest environments. Their performance is vital to the smooth running of critical activities, making them strategic assets—understated yet essential to the functioning of the global economy.
A cornerstone of the Group’s growth
Specialty tire activities combine strategic importance with strong growth potential for the Group.
Accounting for 17% of Michelin’s revenue, with a 13.1% operating margin in 2025 and volume growth of +2.5% in Q1 2026, the specialty tire segment is currently the Group’s most profitable tire activity. Positioned in structurally growing sectors such as air transport, logistics and defence—with Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of between 3 and 8%, specialty tires are on course to keep growing in both value and volume.
Their development rests on increased R&D investment, 90% of which is conducted in France, notably in Clermont-Ferrand. It will also be supported by accelerated product development plan renewal, a scale-up of aircraft tire manufacturing, at the Bourges Michelin’s plant in France, and the rollout of state-of-the-art, patented industrial processes across the Le Puy, Troyes and Montceau-les-Mines plants.
Michelin’s strength: a tailored client approach, powerful R&D and Motorsport activities that are driving innovation.
Michelin is not simply selling high-tech tires; the Group is tangibly enhancing its clients’ business performance, on an environmental, economic and human level.
To achieve this, the Group draws on dedicated specialist teams, an innovative range of tire-related services—with a strong digital dimension—and long-term partnerships.
Michelin also benefits from the power of its integrated R&D, its 6,000 researchers and its uniquely distinctive capabilities in terms of materials science and data.
Finally, the motorsport activities, which push tires to their absolute limits, play a key role as an innovation accelerator for the Group.
CEMA — where the impossible becomes the standard
With 113 kilometres of tracks and 4,500 hectares of terrain, an extraordinary diversity of machines and vehicles, and measuring equipment built in-house by the Clermont-Ferrand engineers: CEMA is far more than a test track, it is one of a kind.
The rigour of its measurement methods and the quantity of data collected and analyzed make this centre a place of excellence and a living laboratory that is central to Michelin’s innovation strategy.
