To prevent occurrence of distortion in a shape after forming, and stably retain the shape in a floor covering material formed in a predetermined shape by heating and softening the thermoplastic resin layer of a carpet original roll and fibers having a low melting point of the basic cloth, by thermally processing the basic cloth of the carpet original roll in the vicinity of a molding temperature before piles are tufted.

A floor covering material for an automobile and so on is so manufactured that piles 3 are tufted in a ground fabric 2 including fibers having low melting points, a thermoplastic resin layer 4 is backed on the rear surface of the fabric 2 so as to manufacture a carpet original roll 1, and the thermoplastic resin layer 4 and the fibers having the low melting points of the fabric 2 are heated and softened so as to form the carpet original roll 1 in a predetermined shape. For example, needle punch non-woven fabric and woven fabric in which fibers having low boiling points such as polyester fibers having melting points of 200°C or below are mixed with normal fibers such as polyester fibers having melting points of 200°C or more, are used for this fabric 2. Thermal process is applied to this fabric 2 before the piles 3 are tufted.