Hey, Noah here once again here to lighten up your day amidst the crippling effect of being quarantined at home for 3 weeks now due to COVID-19 virus. Don’t know what region you are in but I guess we are both in similar situation right now!
So to cheer you up and have a good morning start, I will give you some facts of who owns who, with regards to car brands.
And not to disappoint you but not all badges you see on the road today are not transparent as you see they are. And this post, I will show you which automaker company owns your very own car.
Lets start with…
1. PSA Groupe
Established in 1976, this French multinational corporation is one of the giants in the automotive industry, third actually in Europe.
Currently present in 160 countries and owns 16 production sites across the world. Headquartered in Rueil-Malmaison, PSA has sold 3.88 million units in 2018 alone.
On October 31, 2019, PSA Groupe merged with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, with a 50-50 split stock basis – WikiPedia.
Currently, PSA Groupe owns the following car brands:
- Peugeot
- Opel
- Citroen
- DS Automobiles
- Vauxhall
2. Renault Nissan Mitsubishi Alliance
As its name suggest, one of the biggest automobile alliances in the world, the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance is a French-Japanese strategic partnership.
Though they used the term “alliance”, these car manufacturers are joined together through a cross-sharing agreement, and not from an acquisition or a merger – WikiPedia.
Renault has a 43% stake in Nissan, Nissan has 15% in Renault and 34% stake in Mitsubishi. This alliance rake in over $190 billion sales worldwide, making it the third largest auto maker in the world.
Here are the car brands that this alliance currently owns:
- Dacia
- Datsun
- Infiniti
- AvtoVAZ
- Alpine
3. General Motors
This vintage, old American car company rakes in over $145 billion sales worldwide per year, despite filing for bankruptcy in 2009.
Headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, GM is currently available in 6 continents, with over 180,000 strong employees worldwide. And like other car manufacturers in this list, GM is looking to commit to be an “all-electric” automobiles in the future – GM official site.
Here are the car brands that GM currently owns:
- Cadillac
- Buick
- GMC
- Chevrolet
- Holden (Australia-based manufacturer)
General Motors also have joint venture with Chinese automobile brand – SAIC Motor Corporation Limited, which is based in Shanghai, China
(WikiPedia).
The car brands that SAIC owns include:
- MG Motor (British car marque)
- Roewe
- Maxus
- Nanjing Automobile
4. FIAT Chrysler Automobiles
FIAT Chrysler Automobiles is an Italian-American multinational corporation and is currently the world’s eighth largest car manufacturer.
Headquartered in Amsterdam, Netherlands, FIAT (Italian company) and Chrysler (American company) merged in 2014 on a 50-50 all stock basis – WikiPedia.
Currently, FCA makes over $111 billion of sales worldwide per year.
Chrysler owns the following car brands:
- Jeep
- Dodge
- RAM
FIAT owns the following brands:
- Maserati
- Alpha Romeo
- Lancia
5. Daimler AG
Daimler AG is a merger between automobile makers Daimler and Benz that occurred in 1926, which is soon known as Daimler Benz, and now simply as Daimler AG.
This German-based multinational car company acquires a worldwide sales of over $188 billion per year – Daimler.
Daimler AG owns the following brands:
- Mercedes-Benz
- Smart
- Denza (Chinese brand)
- BAIC Motor (Chinese brand)
6. Bayerische Motoren Werke AG
I’ll just call it simply as BMW as I don’t want to mess with my tongue, a German multinational company that produces luxury cars and motorcycles.
Unlike its main rival Mercedez-Benz, BMW has fewer sales with only an estimated annual income of $113 billion – WikiPedia.
Some of the brands under its wings include:
- MINI
- Rolls Royce
7. Toyota Motor Corporation
Toyota Motor Corporation, a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota, Aichi, Japan, is the world’s leading car brand in terms of sale since 2005 (except in 2011).
It rakes over $260 billion of annual sales worldwide, the second biggest of the crop. Toyota is known for its reliability, quality and safety, making it the number one car brand in the world, toppling rivals GM, Ford and Volkswagen – WikiPedia.
Here are the car brands under the umbrella of Toyota:
- Lexus
- Hino
- Daihatsu
- Ranz
- GAC (Chinese brand)
- Sichuan FAW (Chinese brand)
8. Honda
Honda Motor Company is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation, that manufactures automobiles, motorcycles and power equipment – WikiPedia.
Compared to its close rival Toyota, Honda only rakes in $140 billion sales annually worldwide. Honda was the first car company to launch its own dedicated luxury brand, Acura.
Here are the brands that Honda owns:
- Acura
- DongFeng (Chinese joint venture)
- Guangqi (Chinese joint venture)
9. Hyundai Motor Company
More known as Hyundai Motors, this South Korean multinational automotive manufacturer is steadily increasing its global ranking each year by producing modern, aggressive style and reliable vehicles.
Unlike its Japanese counterpart, Hyundai isn’t yet in the realm of hundred billion dollars mark, though they are going into that direction in maybe a few years now.
Here are some of the car brands that it currently owns:
- Kia
- Genesis
10. TATA Group
A multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Mumbai, India, Tata Group has a rich business history dating back as early as 1868, and is probably one of the richest companies in the world today.
For its automobile division alone, Tata Group acquires over a $100 billion of car sales worldwide, per year – WikiPedia.
Here are the car brands that Tata Group owns:
- Tata
- Land Rover
- Jaguar
11. Geely Holding Group
Officialy known as Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co, this Chinese based global automotive company was established in 1986 but only entered the industry in 1997 – WikiPedia.
This company has sold over 1.5 million cars in just 2018 alone. Though Geely has a pretty impressive brands in its umbrella, it only rakes in $15 billion of car sales annually.
Here are the car brands that Geely currently owns:
- Lotus (British sports car)
- Volvo
- Geely
- Lynk & Co
- Proton
12. Volkswagen Group
Really needs no introduction. Volkswagen or simply known in Germany as “People’s Car”, is founded in 1937 by German Labour Front.
Volkswagen owns the biggest car brands and is currently the highest producing automotive conglomerate company in the world – WikiPedia.
This company rakes in $280 billion of annual sales, topping Toyota and other companies in this list.
Here are the car brands that Volkswagen Group currently owns:
- Skoda
- Bugatti
- Volkswagen
- Audi
- Porsche
- Bentley
- SEAT
- Lamborgini
- MAN
- Ducati
Honorable Mention
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automotive company that was founded by Henry Ford in 1903.
This company initially has stakes or owned some of the known car brands in the market such as Mazda, Land Rover, Aston Martin, Volvo, Jaguar and Mercury. But these brands are either sold or shutdown.
The only brand that they currently own is Lincoln, Ford’s luxury car.
Still, Ford is the second largest car manufacturer in the United States behind General Motors, and the fifth in the world behind Toyota, Volkswagen, GM and Hyundai – WikiPedia.
Independently Owned Cars
As you can see, most cars that you probably know are owned by some other companies. And as years goes by, we see fewer and fewer independent car manufacturers today.
But still, there are still car companies that are independently owned and you probably own one.
Here are the car brands that are thriving in this very competitive industry.
- Isuzu
- Suzuki (5.9% stake by Toyota)
- Mazda (5.5% stake by Toyota)
- Subaru (16.66% stake by Toyota)
- McLaren
- Tesla
- Ferrari
- Aston Martin (5% stake by Daimler AG)
Here is my video about this topic (Tagalog with English subtitle)
Summary
Okay, your favorite brand or your own car may be owned by a larger automotive company but don’t let this discourage you.
After all, without these bigger companies, your current ride might not be around at all.
Until next time guys!
