James Bond & Michelin Tyres
Michelin Advert James Bond
A View to an XWX - James Bond's 'A View to a Kill' featuring the Rolls Royce Silver Cloud II and the Michelin XWX Tyre
The James Bond films have always been renowned for their iconic cars, and the 1962 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud II featured in "A view to a kill" is no exception. This car was the personal vehicle of Bond film producer "Cubby" Broccoli and was driven by Bond's superior, Sir Godfrey Tibbett, as he went undercover to investigate the villainous Max Zorin.
The Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud II was a beautiful and elegant car that blended in perfectly with the luxurious surroundings of Zorin's French estate. However, things took a turn for the worse when the car, with Bond in the back unconscious, was pushed into a lake. Miraculously, Bond managed to escape by breathing air from one of the Michelin XWX tyres, sadly the Rolls and Sir Godfrey were not so lucky.
At the end of the scene, there is a not-so-subtle piece of period product placement featuring the Michelin XWX tyre. The XWX tread pattern appeared in the center of the screen, with the Michelin XWX clearly visible in raised white letters.
This bit of marketing has caught the attentions of Longstone Director Dougal, who pointed out that The XWX never featured raised white lettering, and was never made in a size that could fit the Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud II!
A View to a Kill - Rolls Royce Lake Scene
As an aspirational character, Bond always beats the villain, gets the girl, and does so with the help of the coolest cars and technology. Michelin felt that this could also apply to their tyres, the Michelin XWX was the coolest new performance tyre of the day, so Michelin were keen to feature their new tread pattern in the new Bond movie, tyre dimensions be damned!
Outside of a few tyre boffins nobody noticed a thing, the Michelin XWX tyre only added to the cool factor of the Silver Cloud II. But we at Longstone Tyres decided to set the record straight. James Bond is cool, the Rolls Royce Silver Cloud II and the Michelin XWX are cool, the Rolls Royce Silver Cloud II on Michelin XWX Tyres is very cool…but impossible.
The Fictional Michelin XWX Silver Cloud Tyre saving 007
