What Is the Michelin Logo?
The Michelin logo is Bibendum, the Michelin Man, a figure built from stacked white tyres, set above the name MICHELIN. He belongs to Michelin, the French tyre maker based in Clermont-Ferrand, which took its name in 1889 when the brothers André and Édouard Michelin took over a farm implement business in the city.
Bibendum has been the face of the brand since 1898, and since 2017 Michelin has used two logos: one for the Group and one for the commercial brand. Bibendum with the wordmark is available as the Michelin logo SVG.
Michelin Logo Facts
| Designer | O'Galop (Marius Rossillon), who drew the first Bibendum |
| Introduced | 1898 |
| Symbol | Bibendum, a man made of stacked tyres |
| Logo type | Mascot: Bibendum with the MICHELIN name |
| Owner | Michelin |
What the Michelin Logo Means
Bibendum is a tyre that has come to life. His body is a pile of tyres, so the mark shows the product itself. He is white because tyres were white in Michelin's early days, and he has kept that colour ever since.
His name comes from a Latin line by Horace, Nunc est bibendum, meaning "now is the time to drink". Michelin's early slogan said its tyre was "swallowing the bumps in the road", and the drinking line grew into his name. Michelin describes his role as guiding and serving customers.
Michelin Logo History
The idea came in 1894, when the Michelin brothers had a stand at an international exhibition in Lyon. Looking at a stack of bicycle tyres, Édouard remarked that it looked like a man without arms.
A few years later the illustrator Marius Rossillon, known as O'Galop, showed André a drawing he had made for a Munich brewery, which had turned it down. At André's suggestion he replaced the drinker with a figure made of tyres. The result appeared on an 1898 poster, with the tyre man raising a glass under the words Nunc est bibendum, and the figure took its name from that line.
The early Bibendum wore pince-nez on a lanyard and smoked a cigar. Over the following century he lost both, became fitter and swapped his boots for driving shoes. By the 1960s he was usually shown running, often rolling a tyre. For his 100th anniversary in 1998 Michelin adopted a slimmer version without glasses.
From around 2000 Bibendum was shown as a 3D rendering. In June 2017 Michelin redrew him as a simple line drawing and brought him back together with the company name, partly because a flat figure works better on screens. It was his ninth change since 1898. For his 120th birthday in 2018 the brand showed the 1898 Bibendum shaking hands with the modern one.
Michelin and Pirelli
Both tyre makers founded their identities before 1910, but they took opposite routes. Michelin built its brand around a character, while Pirelli built its mark around a single stretched letter, the long P (compare the Pirelli logo). Bibendum also reaches beyond tyres: the Bib Gourmand award in the Michelin Guide takes its name from him.
For more brands like Michelin, browse our car logos.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Michelin Man called?
His name is Bibendum, often shortened to Bib. It comes from the Latin phrase Nunc est bibendum, "now is the time to drink".
Why is the Michelin Man white?
Tyres were white when Michelin started out, so the tyre figure was drawn white, and Michelin has kept that colour.
Who drew the first Michelin Man?
The French illustrator Marius Rossillon, who signed his work O'Galop, drew Bibendum for an 1898 poster.
Where did the idea for the Michelin Man come from?
At the 1894 Lyon exhibition, Édouard Michelin saw a stack of tyres and said it looked like a man without arms.