The World's Oldest Tire Brand Has Been Around Since The 1800s

The first automobile hit the streets in Mannheim, Germany, on July 3, 1886. It was created and driven by mechanical engineer Karl Benz, who managed to get the one-cylinder, ¾-horsepower, four-stroke gasoline engine up to a blistering speed of 10 mph. This first car had only three wire-spoked wheels, which far more closely resembled those found on a bicycle than the ones we see on cars today. A trend that shouldn't be surprising, given that some big changes have been made to car tires over the last 100 years.

As these new-fangled inventions began to gain momentum with the public, it didn't take long for existing rubber companies to realize they had an opportunity and transitioned into producing the four very essential items used on every vehicle. However, labeling a company as the world's "oldest" tire brand is up for debate, because several were already in existence (making various rubber products) long before they ever manufactured a single automobile tire. BFGoodrich, Continental AG, Pirelli, Michelin, Kelly, Goodyear, and Nokian all emerged during the 1800s, and each has some intriguing claims for being called the oldest tire company on some level. It all boils down to the criteria you use.

BFGoodrich claims it opened North America's first tire factory in Akron, Ohio, in 1870. However, it didn't actually get around to making its first pneumatic car tire until 1896. For the previous 26 years, it made rubber products, including hoses and bike tires. It also established the first tire research center in the United States, but that didn't happen until 1908.

The Continental Caoutchouc & Gutta-Percha Company, better known as Continental AG, first opened its doors in Hanover, Germany, in 1871, which it claims was "a decade and a half before the first automobile" was manufactured. It started out making things like hot water bottles and the outer rubberized layer of raincoats, and didn't produce pneumatic bicycle tires until 1892. In 1901, its first pneumatic car tires were placed onto a Mercedes. 

In 1872, Giovanni Battista Pirelli opened a factory in Milan, Italy, to make rubber hoses and other elastic items. The Pirelli company went on to become well-known for its rubber-coated wires and insulated cables used in the electrical industry. However, in 1885, it built a production line to manufacture rubber bands for carriages and began making air-filled bicycle tires in 1890. It would take almost another decade (1899) before it produced pneumatic automobile tires.

Édouard Daubrée and his cousin, Aristide Barbier, founded what would become the Michelin Tire Company in 1832 to make various rubber parts for farm machinery. They died a year apart (1863 and 1864), but Barbier's daughter — who happened to be married to Jules Michelin — wanted to continue their work. The company was renamed Michelin & Cie in 1889, and began manufacturing a "silent" brake pad for horse-drawn cabs and carriages. In 1891, it created a detachable bike tire to replace the ubiquitous glued-on tires of the day, and, according to Michelin, "the modern tire was born." The company didn't put tires on an automobile (a race car) until 1895 and now owns several different brands, including BFGoodrich.

The Kelly-Springfield Tire Company opened in 1894 in Springfield, Ohio, specifically to produce solid rubber tires for carriages, and because of this, it's often cited as the oldest tire company. Founder Edwin Kelly and his partner, Arthur Grant, devised a method to secure tires onto wheels using wire. Grant's design was so successful that several manufacturers (including B.F. Goodrich and Goodyear) bought the license to produce tires.

Speaking of early tire manufacturers, Goodyear came relatively late to this particular party. In 1839, Charles Goodyear discovered — quite by accident, mind you – that by applying heat and sulfur, rubber became stronger, more pliable, and far more impervious to heat and cold. This process, which revolutionized the tire industry, became known as vulcanization. To honor Goodyear's discovery, Frank Seiberling founded the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company in 1898, in Akron, Ohio, which had become the epicenter of all things rubber and was known as "Rubber City." Like other companies, they started making rubber wares such as horseshoe pads, hoses, poker chips, and tires for both bicycles and horseless carriages. By the following year, however, it was making automobile tires. Goodyear now owns a dozen different tire brands. 

Finally, Nokian Tyres Ltd. was "recently" founded in 1988, but its parent company — Suomen Gummitehdas Oy (Finnish Rubber Factory) — was established in 1898, just like Goodyear. Initially, they made galoshes and other rubber products, and didn't spawn a car tire until 1932. Two years later, it created the "world's first winter tire" to fight Finland's harsh winters.