On the other hand, the alternative would be losing niche brands like Lamborghini when times go south; and thanks to standardized engines and platforms, a new Lamborghini will be more reliable and cheaper to maintain than the eccentric beasts of yore. Note: This list doesn't include every automotive brand in the world, just the car manufacturers that would be familiar to a western audience.
For a full accounting of brands associated with each entity, check out their respective company websites or Wikipedia pages. Renault and Nissan aligned themselves don't call it a merger in ; Nissan then purchased a controlling stake of Mitsubishi in , bringing them into the Alliance as a partner.
BMW devoted itself full-time to automobile manufacturing in and found its footing with the Neue Klasse sedans in the s. They dismantled it in , selling Land Rover to Ford, casting off the other brands and launching Mini as an independent marque. General Motors first formed as a holding company in They swiftly bought several automotive brands, including Buick , Cadillac , Oldsmobile and what eventually became Pontiac. They also tried and failed to buy Ford.
Chevrolet joined the fold in In the s, GM began to trim down an unwieldy, amorphous brand lineup. First, the company dissolved Oldsmobile in After GM filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in , the fallout killed the Saturn, Pontiac and Hummer brands, and led to the sale of Saab , which has yet to reemerge.
In the U. Henry Ford founded the Ford Motor Company in The company proceeded to invent the mass-produced automobile with its revolutionary assembly line production system. After picking up many marques over the decades, FoMoCo pared down its brand lineup considerably in the s.
They also killed off the middle-tier Mercury brand in , leaving just Ford and its luxury division, Lincoln. Geely Auto Group is a Chinese-owned multinational corporation. The factory was only able to build a few of them before the outbreak of World War II, and the plant switched production to military vehicles.
Following the war, production of the iconic Beetle really kicked off, and eventually surpassed 21 million. The firm pursued a variety of interests, including textiles and operating a luxury hotel. It entered the iron and steel business in Tata Motors emerged in It acquired Jaguar and Land Rover in Despite being a relatively new firm, the company has some major automotive holdings thanks to a slew of smart acquisitions. Remembering which brands fall under each automakers' umbrella can be very confusing, especially when a company has divisions that are exclusive to specific parts of the world.
Plus, occasional shakeups can cause companies to change hands. Plus, Toyota is buying more of the Japanese auto industry by making significant investments in Subaru and Suzuki. It's also allegedly teaming up with Mazda to share a rear-wheel-drive platform. Understanding which corporations control which brands will make you the smartest enthusiast among your friends, and help you fact check know-nothing salespeople at the dealership. Check out our slideshow to get a better idea about what brands the world's largest automakers currently control.
Home Features Lists. The BMW Group keeps its structure fairly simple. Daimler AG has its headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany.
The company has quite a complicated corporate structure. Ford has its headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan. It controls: Ford Lincoln. General Motors has its headquarters in Detroit, Michigan. The business has its headquarters in the Minato ward of Tokyo, Japan. Kia went bankrupt in and merged with Hyundai in The company has its headquarters in Rueil-Malmaison, France, a suburb of Paris.
You can also find high-performance versions of the wearing the same scorpion badge. However it had to be saved, primarily by Fiat, in , following the US automotive industry crisis.
Fiat then took full ownership of the American brand in Only one Chrysler model is currently sold in Australia - the large sedan. Under the Chrysler umbrella, Dodge became a subsidiary of the Fiat group in , having also previously been involved with Daimler. Jeep is perhaps best known for its small durable 4x4 vehicles built specifically for the US military. Civilian models then became available in Among many company icons, the seven-slot grille is perhaps the most famous and is worn by every model.
The Italian brand known for its sports cars and racing exploits was founded more than a century ago. Despite being sold only in Italy in modern times, Lancia is still a well-known brand thanks to its highly successful motorsport endeavours, including famous rally cars like the Stratos, Delta and It came under the Fiat umbrella in Originally a coffee mill company, Peugeot switched to bicycles in before looking to cars in , and eventually becoming a highly successful mainstream vehicle producer.
In , the French Government and Dongfeng Motors both purchased 14 per cent stakes in the company. Citroen has made waves in the automotive world at various points during its lifetime, and today is best known for quirky small and mid-sized cars. The brand was taken over by Peugeot in Opel was originally founded in to produce sewing machines. It then took on bicycles in and automobiles in GM would then move to take a majority stake in the German brand in and increased to full control from Vauxhall was founded in in the UK as a pump and marine engine manufacturer before turning its hand to cars in It was later acquired by GM in and from was rebadged, and sold largely the same product in the UK as Opel has in Germany and other parts of Europe.
It too joined PSA at the same time as Opel in Daimler is a German automaker which sells its vehicles under the world-renowned Mercedes-Benz brand.
The company was formed with the merging of the Daimler and Benz auto companies, before purchasing Chrysler in and being named Daimler Chrysler AG. Today the brand is best known for its wide range of luxury cars and its high-performance car division called AMG — as well as its participation in Formula 1, having won the Constructors Championship every year from to Smart is a Daimler AG brand which exclusively produces microcars and subcompacts.
Originally just an idea by head of Swiss timepiece manufacturer Swatch, the company and Mercedes came to an agreement the same year to build cars. In , Daimler and Geely announced a joint venture to produce Smart cars in China for global distribution.
Maybach was acquired by Daimler in , becoming the company's ultra-luxury brand and in direct competition with Rolls Royce. However poor sales meant the marque was put into stasis in Bavarian Motor Works celebrated its centenary in and has shareholders spanning most continents of the world. Strategic investors hold shares of around 47 per cent of the luxury brand, while institutional investors from North America, the UK, Ireland, Germany and other parts of Europe hold a combined 40 per cent share.
Mini was originally introduced as a model, founded by the British Motor Corporation, before becoming a marque in its own right in Rolls-Royce is possibly the most highly regarded luxury car brand in the world. It also produces engines for commercial airliners, albeit as a separately operated company.
Rolls-Royce was nationalised in , then privatised in The seemingly unlikely alliance between Renault , Nissan and Mitsubishi was recently strengthened with a new framework ratified in early The company is part-owned by the French government 20 per cent , and itself has a 43 per cent controlling stake in Nissan.
The Japanese brand has been controlled by Renault since through the powerful Renault-Nissan Alliance, which sees Nissan hold a 15 per cent non-voting share in the French brand. Nissan, in turn, holds Mitsubishi Motors as a subsidiary of its own, and Nismo stands as its in-house tuning brand.
Infiniti is the luxury division of Nissan, producing various impressive models for Australia. Despite offering direct competition to Lexus for a number of years, the brand has failed to attract as much interest Down Under and announced it would pull out of the Australian market in It was its second attempt on Australia's discerning tastes, highlighting just how difficult and challenging the local landscape is for new brands - even with big brand backing.
Mitsubishi was originally founded as a shipbuilder, with its dedicated motor division not emerging until The wider Mitsubishi brand still commands a 20 per cent stake in the company, but Nissan took a 34 per cent share in October Tata is an Indian brand and part of the wider Tata conglomerate.
Between and , the brand enjoyed a collaboration with Daimler-Benz. Land Rover was acquired by Tata Motors in , but is still revered as a British icon. Jaguar is a British luxury car brand previously controlled by Ford, from until
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