The company arose in the town of Púchov in 1947 as a "national enterprise" that was split off from the old firm Matador Bratislava.

Its tires were fitted to many Czechoslovak automobiles of the 1930s, thus contributing in co-operation with the brands Škoda, Tatra, Aero and others to the development of automotive industry in Central Europe.

The key role in privatization and transformation of the company was played by Štefan Rosina, who initially joined the firm in 1950 as a regular worker and eventually became the leader of the management team.

It was called "Gumárne 1. mája" (which translates to "rubber works of 1st of May"), at that time and sold its products under the trademark Barum.

The company founded its own R&D center in 1987 (now "Vipo") and provided technical assistance for the construction of rubber works in India, Indonesia, Ethiopia, Cambodia, Burma, Syria, Turkey, Iran and Yugoslavia.