Established over 140 years ago, Pirelli is known for more than just its tires (or its oft-times raunchy calendar). Today, it’s a global leader in innovation, performance and technology

1872

 

Engineer Giovanni Battista Pirelli filed a deed to establish the limited partnership company, G.B. Pirelli & C. With 24 partners, the company was founded in Milan with a share capital of 215,000 Lira. Its first products – all made out of Indian rubber – were transmission belts, tubes, valves and insulation.

1890

 

While it had already started producing other items, such as raincoats and toys, Pirelli didn’t begin making tires until 1890 when it started mass production for the wheels of Velocipedes – an early form of bicycle propelled by working pedals on cranks. Nine years later, it began production of the first tires for cars

1913

 

The French Grand Prix was won by G. Boillot, driving a Peugeot with Pirelli tyres. The tyres had special treads, adapted for the road conditions. A year later, Pirelli would become the first company to patent tread patterns for asphalt roads.

1950

 

Pirelli had been making electricity cables since the 1920s, but in 1950 the Italian Ministry of Postal Services commissioned coaxial cables for a long-distance telephone network and television service. The company would go on to lay undersea cables around New York in the 1960s. 

1964

 

The Pirelli calendar is born. What started as a raunchy ‘corporate freebie’ quickly became its own exclusive publication, with a strong aesthetic and cultural vocation. No stranger to social uproar, the calendar wasn’t afraid to make a statement (such as the ground-breaking 1987 calendar, featuring only black models).

1974

 

The creation of the first ‘low profile’ tyre. The P7 featured technology that was developed in Formula One, and became the first product that applied knowledge from the racing industry to the mass market.

2000

 

Pirelli launches its new modular integrated robotized system process – a mini factory that used robots to revolutionize tyre production. The technology was based on three Pirelli patents that dated back to the 1970s,

2010

 

Pirelli returns to Formula 1. The company is still the official supplier of the FIA Formula One World Championship, supplying six types of tyre, four dry weather, one for rain and one intermediate tyre.