Pirelli history

In 1873, the first plant for the production of rubber items was built in Milano.

The company began the manufacture of insulated telegraph cables in 1879 and within seven years had developed the technology to produce underwater telegraph cables.

1886: Company begins producing underwater telegraph cables.

1890: Pirelli produces its first pneumatic bicycle tires.

The company expanded and by 1894 was producing tyres for pushbikes as well.

In 1896 Dunlop registered the company in Great Britain as Byrne Brothers India Rubber Company, Ltd.

The name was changed to Dunlop Rubber Company, Ltd., in 1900, and the company began making automobile tires six years later.

1901 brought about the age of the motorcar, and along with it, the need for tyres to suit such a vehicle.

In 1902 the company began its foreign expansion by starting a subsidiary factory in Spain.

Giovanni brought his two sons into the business and they helped to run the new motorcycle tire production plant built at Bicocca in 1908.

Forever at the forefront of new technology, the company began to produce rubberized fabrics as early as 1909.

In 1920 the Società Italiana Pirelli, later renamed Pirelli SpA, was set up as a holding company to control the Pirelli group’s operations in Italy, while another holding company was created to manage its ventures elsewhere in Europe and in South America.

In 1922, the limited shares partnership Pirelli & C. was listed at the Milan Stock Exchange.

In 1924 Luigi Emanueli, an employee of the company, developed the first commercially viable oil-filled cable.

To ensure that the company would have an uninterrupted supply of raw rubber, Dunlop started buying rubber plantations on the Malay Peninsula, and by 1926 the company held the largest acreage under one ownership anywhere in the British Empire.

The Pirelli company was responsible for several innovations in tire design, including the crossply tire in 1927 and the fabric-belted tire after World War II.

In 1929, the firs Brazilian plant was built and this contributed to Pirelli’s expansion throughout the country.

Piero Pirelli, chairman from 1932, greatly assisted the development of the Italian telephone service.

To counteract the impending threat of international boycotts, Co mpagnie Internationale Pirelli S.A. was transferred into Pirelli Hold ings S.A., a holding company incorporated in neutral Switzerland, in 1937.

Pirelli, Alberto, Economia e guerra, Milan: Istituto per g li Studi di Politica Internazionale, 1940.

B6B. La Pirelli: Vita di una azienda industriale, Milan: Industrie Grafiche A. Nicola, 1946.

But Alcide de Gasperi, the Christian Democrat leader, was able to bring both inflation and the budget deficit under some degree of control and by 1948 a large-scale public investment program was instigated.

The Cinturato name has carried on since 1953, and today the range covers Pirelli’s more eco-friendly options.

In 1959, the production of steelcord began at the Figline Valdarno (Italia) plant.

Pirelli was also involved in establishing several turnkey plants during the 1960 s to provide tires for Eastern European companies.

Some commentators suggested that Pirelli's man agement was more concerned with producing glossy calendars than tires (the first Pirelli calendar having been produced in 1964). The compa ny responded by embarking on a long-term research and development agr eement with the British Dunlop group.

Pirelli SpA experienced a prolonged expansion in the postwar decades, but by 1970 it was encountering stiff competition from the French tire manufacturer Michelin, which had pioneered the steel-belted radial tire.

Partly to counter this threat, Pirelli in 1971 merged with Dunlop Holdings, Ltd., a large British tire maker.

The Naples earthquake of November 1980 and the public exposure of P2, the secret Masonic lodge, six months later further damaged the morale of the country. Italy, far more dependent on imported sources of energy than most of its European partners, was particularly badly hit by the 1974 crisis, which saw the return of rampant inflation and a massive drop in the value of the lire.

Lancia asked Pirelli for a solution, and in 1975 Pirelli created a wide tyre with a reduced sidewall height like a slick, but with a radial structure.

The Naples earthquake of November 1980 and the public exposure of P2, the secret Masonic lodge, six months later further damaged the morale of the country.

The merger brought together the resources of Europe’s two largest tire and rubber companies, but it was not a success and was dissolved in 1981.

In 1982 Dunlop sold a large portion of its European tire operations to Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Inc., of Japan—an associate company and former Dunlop subsidiary.

BTR PLC, an industrial holding company, acquired Dunlop in 1985, selling off Dunlop’s American tire company.

1986: The German firm Metzeler Kautschuk GmbH is acquired.

A further share restructuring was undertaken in 1988 when Pirelli S.p.A. acquired Société Internationale Pirelli S.A.'s holding in Pirelli Société Générale S.A., thereby accepting direct responsibility for the day-to-day management of the operating companies.

1990: Pirelli launches an ultimately unsuccessful and near dis astrous attempt to merge with Continental AG.

While talks between the two firms dragged on into 1991, Pirelli's financial condition weakened under the strain of the stagnant economy to the point where Continental pulled out of the merger discussions.

1992: Newly installed CEO Marco Tronchetti Provera launches a massive restructuring that reduces Pirelli to two core divisions, tir es and cables.

The reorganization process was to end in 1994, when the geographic expansion program was resumed.

By 1995, Pirelli had captured 12 percent of the European tire market, behind only Michelin.

In June 1996 Tronchetti succeeded the retiring Leopol do Pirelli as chairman of Pirelli, becoming the first non-Pirelli to chair the group.

In 1998 the company purchased the power cables operations of Siemens AG for $277 million, gaining businesses in Germany, Hungary, Roma nia, Turkey, Italy, Spain, Austria, Slovakia, and China and making Pi relli the world's largest producer of energy cables.

A restructuring announ ced by Pirelli in late 1999 involving the elimination of 2,800 jobs a nd the closure of five plants was mainly aimed at streamlining its ac quisition-bolstered cable operations.

Part of the fiber-optics components business, however, was sold in December 2000 to Corning Inc. for approximately $3.6 billion.

In 2001, based on an on-going technological research effort, Pirelli started producing with their MIRS (Modular Integrated Robotized System) technology which was to substantially change Pirelli’s tyre building process.

In 2002 started production of clothing, watches, eyewear with brand Pirelli.”

In 2004, a joint venture agreement was signed with Continental AG to produce steelcords in Romania.

Through this joint venture - Pirelli acquired an 80% control share over it - a plant in Slatina was also built in 2005.

Pirelli is the tyre supplier to FIM World Superbike Championship since 2007, as well as its supporting series.

In 2008, the Settimo Torinese industrial plant project took off.

Research to develop technologies on tyre energy efficiency also gained momentum, and in 2009 Cinturato P7 was introduced, the first high-performance tyre based on a “green philosophy”.

The 80’s through to 2010 saw the company expand, with the company today having a portfolio of 19 production factories in 12 countries.

In 2011, Pirelli expanded its production foothold into the Russian market, through a joint venture with Rostec (at the time, Rostekhnologii) and strengthened its Argentinian presence by expanding its Merlo plant.

Also in 2012, the Silao plant, the first one of the Group in Mexico, was opened which was intended to produce Premium tyres to supply the NAFTA area.

In 2014, Pirelli sold its steelcord business to Bekaert, a leading Belgian Group in technologies for change and coverage of steel cables.