Originally Posted by
Padgett
"Barum is a tyre brand of Continental AG." Interesting. Wonder if like Michelin-BFG-Uniroyal
Pretty much the same organizational setup. Background from Wikipedia website:
Barum is a manufacturer of
tyres based in the
Czech Republic. The Barum tyre company was created as a subsidiary of
Bata Shoes who made rubber soled boots in Czechoslovakia. The high cost of rail transport prompted the Bata company to operate its own fleet of vehicles to transport goods by road and in 1934 To counteract the high costs involved in importing tyres for its fleet of vehicles, the company decided to produce them itself. In 1945 the three major rubber-producing companies in Czechoslovakia were merged, Bata in Zlin, Rubena in Nachod [Kudrnac pre-1945] and Mitas [Michelin + Veritas] in Prague-Strašnice and post-war in Hrádek nad Nisou, being originally a subsidiary of Michelin. The Bata family lost control of the company which was seized by the state and the Barum company was born.
In 1966 the construction of a brand new manufacturing facility commenced in Otrokovice and the following year the first
radial tyre was produced at the factory in Zlin. The factory was named Rudy Rijen (Red October) in 1953 after the October revolution in the Soviet Union.
In 1972 Tyre manufacture ceased in Zlin when a new plant was built in Otrokovice
In 1992 A joint venture agreement is signed with
Continental AG.
The Mitas company still exists in its own right.