Titan Tire CEO: French Workers Are Lazy. France: Not Even, We Aren’t

Click here to view the embedded video. Titan is the one with the money and the talent to produce tires. What does the crazy union have? It has the French government. Okay, that's direct, but it's not the most direct thing Maurice Taylor said regarding the possibility of investing in a France-based tire manufacturer. France's finance minister, Arnaud Montebourg, recently received and then presumably leaked a letter from Taylor in which he repeatedly slams French industry and declares that he has no interest in hiring French workers. "Titan is going to buy a Chinese tire company or an Indian one, pay less than one Euro per hour wage and ship all the tires France needs… You can keep the so-called workers." In response, Montebourg compared Titan unfavorably to the Maginot Line, which would stand against any German tank assault. No wait, that's wrong, he compared Titan unfavorably to Michelin. Given that Titan's been around for twenty years, that's probably just as silly a comparison. It's hard to find someone to root for in this exchange, which seems to combine the worst red-meat stereotypes of insanely greedy corporate adventurists willing to have tires made by slave labor if necessary and complacent glass-tower mandarins cheerfully bleeding a country dry to protect their union voters until the very last possible minute. The enthusiast driver in me is on the side of the French, insofar as Michelin makes a number of outstanding performance tires and I have yet to see a Chinese tire worth entering in a demolition derby. It's easy to forget that tires like the Pilot Sport PS2 are in part subsidized by the research and industrial capacity that come along with having a big chunk of the plain-vanilla transport industry. I also sleep better at night knowing that Chinese tires are fairly rare on the roads of the United States, since I have to drive on those roads. We'll continue to monitor the spat to see if anyone eats his words, but I wouldn't look for that to happen. Titan will make its tires as cheaply as possible, and the French government won't consider anything but token protectionist efforts. Now might be a good time to stock up on Pilot Cups, and don't forget to store them away from sunlight and fresh air. from The Truth About Cars http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com

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