The World's Biggest Tyre Manufacturers and What Sets Them Apart

Top tyre makers compared: the 2025 ranking

The table uses the Tyrepress figures for full-year 2024, published on 12 June 2025. Michelin ranks first with tyre sales 1.3 billion EUR higher compared with Bridgestone's 25.3 billion.

Continental is a large automotive supplier, so the ranking counts only its tyre business. The December 2025 Global Tire Report, using its own estimates, also lists Michelin, Bridgestone, Goodyear, Continental, Pirelli and Sumitomo in that order.

Profiles of the biggest tyre manufacturers

Michelin. Founded in 1889 in Clermont-Ferrand by the brothers André and Édouard Michelin, it patented the radial tyre in 1946, the design now used on almost every car. Its range runs from small-car tyres to aircraft and mining tyres, and the company also publishes the Michelin Guide.

Bridgestone. Shojiro Ishibashi founded the company in Japan in 1931; the name is an English play on his surname, which means "stone bridge". Bridgestone bought Firestone in 1988 and supplied tyres to Formula 1 from 1997 to 2010.

Goodyear. Founded in 1898 in Akron, Ohio, and named after Charles Goodyear, the inventor of vulcanised rubber. It owns the Dunlop brand in Europe and North America and bought Cooper Tire in 2021.

Continental. Founded in Hanover in 1871, it is Germany's largest tyre maker and owns brands such as Uniroyal (in Europe), Semperit, Barum and General Tire.

Pirelli. Founded in Milan in 1872, Pirelli concentrates on high-performance and premium tyres and has been the sole tyre supplier to Formula 1 since 2011.

Context: rising makers from Asia

Behind the big six, Chinese and Indian manufacturers are gaining ground. Sailun grew its sales by 11% in 2024 and reached tenth place, more than 1 billion EUR ahead of Toyo in eleventh. MRF climbed three places to twelfth, Apollo Tyres stood sixteenth and Linglong fourteenth. Even combined, the Chinese makers in the ranking are only about as large as Goodyear. Korean brands such as Hankook and Nexen are also well established in Europe.

Buying advice: what the ranking means for drivers

A big manufacturer has large research budgets and supplies many new cars as original equipment, but every brand makes cheaper and premium lines. For a buying decision:

• choose the right season and size first; see the guides to winter tyres and summer tyres from Bridgestone;
• read the EU tyre label for wet grip, rolling resistance and noise; low rolling resistance also helps the cars in the most economical cars ranking;
• compare independent magazine and motoring-club tests for your exact size;
• check the size and load index with the tyre size calculator.

Truck and van owners will find load and tread types in the guide to tyre varieties and parameters.