Who owns car brands
The automotive industry has always suffered from the fact that the relationship between manufacturers was very difficult to understand. After the global financial crisis severely crippled it in almost all countries, European and American auto giants began to frantically resell their brands. In this confusion, it became unclear who is now in charge of the famous brands. Let's trace the complex history of relationships between the largest automotive brands.
The German Porsche is owned by the Porsche and Pich families - the heirs of the founder of the company Ferdinand Porsche and his sister Louise Piech. The family clan owns key decision-making shares in the company and a small fraction of the preferred shares listed on the German stock exchanges. By the way, the cunning little family has a very significant effect on the German car market. So, for example, Ferdinand Pich (grandson of Ferdinand Porsche), from 1993 to 2002 headed Volkswagen.
In 2009, the family concern acquired its first major foreign shareholder, the Qatari Emirate, which bought out 10% of the holding's shares. By the way, Volkswagen itself is actually owned by Porsche, and vice versa - since 2009, Volkswagen has owned 49.9% of the shares of Porsche AG. Initially, the Volkswagen carmaker was state-owned. It was reorganized into a joint stock company only in 1960, and the federal government of Germany and the government of Lower Saxony received 20% of the shares in its capital each.
In addition to its own production, the Volkswagen group's divisions are currently: Audi (acquired from Daimler-Benz in 1964), Seat (since 1990, the Volkswagen Group owns 99.99% of the shares), Škoda, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini (the company was acquired subsidiary of Audi in 1998)
The Japanese Toyota Motor Corp., whose president is the grandson of the founder of the company Akio Toyoda, owns 6.29% of The Master Trust Bank of Japan, 6.29% - Japan Trustee Services Bank, 5.81% - Toyota Industries Corporation, 9% treasury shares.
Of all the Japanese automakers, only Toyota has a good collection of brands - Lexus, Scion, Daihatsu and Subaru. In addition, the truck manufacturer Hino is part of Toyota Motor.
Honda's achievement is much more modest. In addition to the premium brand Acura and the motorcycle department, the Japanese have nothing more to brag about.
The Peugeot-Citroen carmaker is still 30.3% (45.1% of the voting shares) owned by the Peugeot family. The shares are also owned by the employees of the concern (2.76%), there are also treasury shares (3.07%). The rest of the shares are in free float.
By the way, Peugeot SA acquired 38.2% of Citroën shares back in 1974, and two years later increased this share to 89.95%. So today "Peugeot" almost completely controls the previously independent "Citroen".
Another major global automaker is the Renault-Nissan alliance, which owns brands such as Renault, Dacia, Nissan, Infiniti, Samsung. In addition, Renault-Nissan has owned 50% + 1 share of AvtoVAZ since December 2012, so from now on the Lada brand actually belongs to the French-Japanese alliance.
Over the past 60 years, the Renault concern has been gradually getting out of state control. Until 1945 Renault was 100% privately owned. However, during the war, the factories of the company were destroyed, and Louis Renault himself was accused of collaborating with the Nazis and condemned. A large businessman died in prison, and his company was successfully nationalized. However, over the years, the state share began to decline. And if in 1996 Renault was state-owned more than half, then in 2005 it already owned only 15.7% of the shares. In 1999, Renault and Nissan formed what is arguably the strongest automotive alliance ever. Nissan is 44.4% owned by the French manufacturer, and Renault, in turn, gave 15% of the shares to the Japanese.
The fifth largest automobile concern DaimlerChrysler is very fond of the Arabs. The owner of the top brands Maybach, Mercedes-Benz, Mercedes-AMG and Smart, has the Arab investment fund Aabar Investments (9.1%) as the main shareholder, the government of Kuwait owns 7.2% of the shares, and about 2% belongs to the emirate of Dubai. It is surprising to see our KAMAZ next to such brands, 10% of shares of which Daimler acquired in 2008. The German auto concern paid for the shares of KAMAZ $ 250 million immediately and left 50 million until 2012. As a result of the deal, Daimler received one seat on the board of directors of KAMAZ. In February of this year, the concern bought another 1% stake in a truck manufacturer.
The Bavarian concern BMW, which in 1959 virtually single-handedly saved Herbert Quandt from the sale, is still dependent on his family. In the late 50s, a competing company Daimler-Benz became interested in the unprofitable German brand, but Quandt did not sell it, and invested himself. Today his widow Joanna Quandt and children Stefan and Suzanne control a 46.6% stake in BMW and live quite well. Stefan Quandt even served as deputy chairman of the company's board for some time. Despite the fact that at various times Ford, General Motors, Volkswagen, Honda and Fiat offered very lucrative deals, Quandt's heirs refuse to sell, because they consider the preservation of the brand with the family a matter of honor.
In recent years, the Hyundai-Kia alliance has been rapidly breaking out into the ranks of the leaders of the global automotive industry. The alliance currently produces cars under the Hyundai and Kia brands, but the Koreans are planning to create a premium brand in the near future. According to unconfirmed information, it will be called Genesis.
Hyundai Motor was "lifted from its knees" by a single person - Chung Mong Ku, the eldest son of the founder of the Hyundai industrial group. In the late 90s, he took seriously the quality of cars. For some 6 years, the Korean man was able to increase sales in the US market by 360% and take the fourth place among imported brands.
Ford Motor is run by William Ford Jr., great-grandson of the famous Henry Ford. Henry Ford himself always dreamed of being the sole owner of the company. In 1919, Henry and his son Edsel bought out the shares of the company from other shareholders and became the sole owners of their brainchild. There is no doubt that the shares were sold to them without problems, because the first shareholders were: a coal dealer, his accountant, a banker who trusted the coal dealer, two brothers who had a workshop for the manufacture of engines, a carpenter, two lawyers, one clerk , owner of a dry goods store and a man who made wind turbines and air rifles.
Until recently, Ford boasted two more British brands - Jaguar (in 1989, Ford bought Jaguar for $ 2.5 billion) and Land Rover (in 2000, it was bought by Ford for $ 2.75 billion). dollars from BMW). In 2008, both brands were put up for sale due to huge debts. In June 2008 they were bought by Indian Tata Motors.
Today, in addition to cars with its own name, Ford Motor owns the Lincoln and Mercury brands. Ford also owns 33.4% of Mazda and 9.4% of Kia Motors Corporation.
General Motors, which has long held a leading position in the automotive market, is currently controlled by the state (61% of the shares). Its main shareholders are: the government of Canada (12%), the United Auto Workers Union of the USA (17.5%). The remaining 10.5% of the shares were divided among the largest creditors.
The famous auto concern still owns the brands Chevrolet, Pontiac, Buick, Cadillac and Opel. More recently, he also owned a controlling stake in the Swedish company Saab (50%), but after the crisis, in January 2010, he sold the company to the Dutch sports car manufacturer Spyker Cars.
In the summer of 2008, General Motors decided to sell the Hummer brand, and for almost a year tried to sell it to the Chinese, the Russians, or the Indians. As a result, the only promising deal with the Chinese Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co fell through, and on May 26, 2010, the last SUV of the brand rolled off the assembly line of the General Motors plant in the American city of Shreveport.
Since January 1, 2011, Fiat Group has split into two subsidiaries in two sectors: Fiat SpA (light vehicles) and Fiat Industrial (industrial vehicles).
Among the mergers and acquisitions of recent years, I would like to note the transfer of the Volvo brand under the control of the Chinese Geely and the purchase of the British premium brands Jaguar and Land Rover by the Indian Tata Motor. The most curious in this row is the acquisition of the Swedish brand SAAB by the tiny Dutch supercar manufacturer Spyker.
From the once powerful British car industry, there are now only memories. The most famous British automakers lost their independence long ago, but even small English firms passed to foreign owners. The legendary company Lotus belongs to the Malaysian Proton, and MG was bought by the Chinese company SAIC. At the same time, SAIC sold Korean SsangYong Motor to Indian automaker Mahindra & Mahindra. based on materials hhttp: //www.km.ru
The ranking takes into account the production statistics of automotive alliances, which may include several companies or brands. So, for example, the statistics do not take into account individual manufacturers, such as Audi, Volkswagen, SEAT and Skoda, but the entire Volkswagen group, which includes all these brands.
The same goes for alliances. The rating does not provide separate data for Renault and Nissan. It counts these manufacturers as one large company. In addition, in 2017, the French-Japanese alliance became the owner of a controlling stake in Mitsubishi, which allowed the partners to improve production statistics.
The statistics of the Korean manufacturers Kia and Hyundai are also considered together, since the latter owns a controlling stake in Kia Motors.
Another deal that influenced the balance of power in the ranking of the world's largest automakers is the change in ownership of Opel. In 2017, the American General Motors sold its German asset to the French - the PSA concern, which is better known as Peugeot-Citroen.
Today Groupe PSA includes five car brands: Peugeot, Citroen, DS, Opel and Vauxhall (under this brand Opel cars are sold in some countries).
In the table below you will find the following information:
- the name of the largest car manufacturers in the world;
- the volume of cars produced;
- dynamics - change in production volumes compared to the corresponding period last year.
The largest car manufacturers in the world
Based on sales results in January-December 2019.
| № | Manufacturer | Number of cars, mln. | Dynamics,% |
| 1 | Volkswagen | 10.3 | -1 |
| 2 | Toyota | 9.7 | +2.2 |
| 3 | Renault-Nissan | 9.2 | -5.9 |
| 4 | General motors | 7.7 | -10.8 |
| 5 | Hyundai-Kia | 7.2 | -1.1 |
| 6 | Ford | 4.9 | -7.7 |
| 7 | Honda | 4.8 | -0.5 |
| 8 | Fiat-Chrysler | 4.4 | -3.8 |
| 9 | P.S.A. | 3.2 | -9.1 |
| 10 | Daimler | 2.6 | +3.3 |
Automotive alliances are not created out of a good life. Cars are expensive to produce, and the competition is so fierce that manufacturers simply have to save on everything. This is where the same cars appear with different icons. Hence the universal platforms for creating a large number of cars.
Joining forces is a necessity that allows car companies not only to survive, but to develop and expand.
From time to time you can hear about cooperation of certain companies, but the alliance presupposes close cooperation.
In reality, there are quite a few car holdings or car alliances.
Automotive alliances legally
Legally, a variety of organizations can do this: groups of companies, holdings, concerns, joint stock companies. Indeed, different countries have different laws and requirements (including antitrust). For example, in Germany joint stock companies are called AG for short (eg Volkswagen AG), this corresponds to the full name AktienGesellschaft.
Many large concerns are engaged not only in the production of cars, components and service, but also have their own large financial sectors, which are created to support the main activity of the company - the production, sale and service of cars (these are, for example, banks that are engaged in the purchase of car loans ).
Let's list the most famous and largest global automotive alliances.
The largest automotive alliances in the world
Toyota Motor Corporation
Toyota Motor Corporation is the largest Japanese corporation. It is one of the largest automotive corporations. It includes the following car brands: Toyota, Lexus, Scion (closed in 2016), Daihatsu, Hino, Ranz. The company also owns a part (16.66%) of the shares of the Japanese company Subaru and 5.9% of the shares of Isuzu. The company is engaged not only in the production of cars, but also in financial services (Toyota Financial Services - Toyota Financial Services), and also builds robots. The headquarters of the corporation is located in Toyota (Japan). The corporation was founded in 1937, although the company began its activities in 1924. A distinctive feature of the holding is that it is entirely Japanese, and is based on one brand - Toyota (legally, there are several organizations). The company regularly competes for the title of the largest car manufacturer in the world and takes 1-2 places.
Brands owned by Toyota Motor Corporation
Volkswagen AG
Volkswagen AG is a German automobile concern (group of companies), legally a joint stock company. It includes the following car brands: Volkswagen (passenger cars), Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles (commercial vehicles) Audi, Seat, Škoda, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Scania AB, MAN AG, Ducati, Porsche, ItalDesign Giugiaro. The headquarters is located in Wolfsburg (Germany). The company has two joint ventures in China: FAW-Volkswagen, SAIC Volkswagen. The concern was founded in 1937 from the production of the world famous Beetle. The concern operates in about 150 countries and owns hundreds of production facilities in 27 countries around the world. In 2008, the concern included 342 subsidiaries. VAG consists of two main divisions - the automotive division and the financial division. It is one of the largest car manufacturers and every year fights with Toyota for the title of the largest manufacturer in the world. The concern includes the largest number of car brands.
Brands owned by Volkswagen AG Dailmer AG
Dailmer AG is a German automotive concern. The concern was founded in 1926 by the merger of the Dailmer and Benz companies. Therefore, for a long time the concern had the name Daimler-Benz. For some time (from 1998 to 2007) the automobile concern included the Chrysler company and the concern was called DaimlerChrysler, but later the shares were sold to the company and at the moment Chrysler is part of the FCA holding. Automotive brands that are part of the company: Mercedes-Benz (cars, trucks, buses), Mercedes-AMG, Mercedes-Maybach, Smart, Mitsubishi Fuso. The company also owns a part of shares in such companies as Denza (Chinese company - 50%), MV Agusta (motorcycles from Italy - 25%), Beijing Automotive Group (12%), KAMAZ (11%) and Aston Marin (5%). The headquarters of the concern is located in Stuttgart (Germany).
Brands owned by Daimler AG Fiat Chrysler Automobiles
FCA is an Italian-American holding (multinational corporation). As mentioned above, Chrysler was previously owned by Daimler, but was sold (in 2007), and later (in 2014) bought by Fiat. The holding includes the following brands: Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat Automobiles (passenger cars), Fiat Professional (commercial vehicles), Jeep, Lancia, Ram Trucks, Abarth, Mopar, SRT, Maserati, Ferrari (allocated separately and shares are distributed between employees). The company ranks 8th among the companies that sell cars. The concern is quite young, as it was founded only on October 12, 2014. FCA consists of two large divisions: FCA Italy (the former Fiat corporation) and FCA US (the former Chrysler corporation). At the moment, the corporation is divided into 4 global markets - by continent. The holding also owns large subsidiaries such as Comau, Magneti Marelli, Mopar and Teksid. Despite the fact that the holding is Italian-American, the headquarters is located in the Netherlands, and the financial center is in London (this is done for tax purposes).
Brands owned by FCA (Fiat Chrysler Automobiles) Renault – Nissan – Mitsubishi
Renault – Nissan – Mitsubishi - Franco-Japanese cooperation (alliance). They also talk about strategic partnership, which means that the merger of companies is not a merger or acquisition, the companies are united by an agreement of mutual cooperation. It has existed since 1999, and from 1999 to 2017 it existed as part of the Renault-Nissan partnership. Mitshubishi joined a little later (from 2017), previously cooperating with Peugout Citroen. The alliance includes the following car brands: Renault, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Dacia, Datsun, AvtoVAZ. Renault also owns 80.1% of Renault Samsung Motors, with Samsung holding the remainder. The headquarters is located in Amsterdam (Netherlands). Renault owns 43.4 percent of shares (all have a vote) in Nissan, and Nissan owns 15% (without voting rights) in Renault, which effectively gives Renault control (with about 1.5 times more Nissan cars sold than Renault) ... The alliance in 2010 announced a partnership with Daimler AG, which gave Daimler a combined 3.1% stake in Renault and Nissan. In 2017, the corporation produced about 10.6 million vehicles and became the industry leader. The Alliance was seriously undermined by the arrest and detention of Carlos Ghosn, the former head of the company, in November 2017. Despite this, representatives of the companies say that they are not going to end cooperation.
Brands that belong to the Renault-Nissan-Mistsubishi alliance General motors
GM is the largest automobile manufacturer in the United States. It was for a long time the largest manufacturer in the world, at the moment the company is in 3rd place. In 2009, the company went through bankruptcy and significantly reduced its presence in Russia. So the budget Chevrolet and Opel left our country. In addition, Opel was sold to PSA in 2017. Brands currently owned by GM: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Holden (Australia). For some time GM collaborated with AvtoVAZ (joint venture GM-AvtoVAZ). GM also owned brands such as Pontiac, Hummer, Saturn, Daewoo and some others that are no longer produced. GM also worked with companies such as Fiat, Suzuki, Subaru, Isuzu, Autobaojun (China), Jiefang (China).
Brands owned by GM Groupe Peugeot Société Anonyme
Groupe PSA (PSA Peugeot Citroen) is a French concern, a joint stock company. The concern includes the following car brands: Citroen, Peugeot, Opel, Vauxhall, DS Automobiles. The concern was founded in 1976 and collaborated with the following car manufacturers: FIAT, Ford, Mitsubishi, Renault, Toyota. The headquarters of the concern is located in Paris (France). The concern takes about 10th place in the ranking of automobile concerns in terms of the number of cars produced. After buying Opel and Vauxhall from GM, the company became the second largest concern by the number of cars sold (after VW AG). PSA has partnered with some well-known companies such as Fiat. A purpose-built Sevel plant in 1978 (Société Européenne de Véhicules Légers SA and Società Europea Veicoli Leggeri-Sevel S.p.A.), which currently manufactures Fiat Ducato, Peugeot Boxer and Citroën Jumper cars. In addition, there is also a Dongfeng Peugeot-Citroën joint venture targeting the world's largest car market in China. The concern also collaborated with Toyota (Toyota Peugeot Citroën Automobile), Mitsubishi (Peugeot Citroën Mitsubishi Automotiv Rus), the Chinese company Changan (Changan PSA Automobile) and with Khodro (Iran Khodro Automobiles Peugeot).
Brands owned by PSA BMW AG
BMW AG is another German concern (joint stock company). Engaged in the production of cars and motorcycles. The holding also owns the brands Mini, Rolls-Royce, BMW Motorrad (BMW motorcycles). In China, BMW is actively cooperating with the Brilliance holding, which produces cars under its own brand. At one time (from 1994 to 2000) BMW owned brands such as Rover, Land Rover, MG, Mini. However, the company later sold everything except the Mini and Rollks-Royce due to large losses to Rover. The company is headquartered in Munich. The BMW concern was founded in 1916. The BMW brand is known not only as a manufacturer of premium cars, but also motorcycles. BLW has partnered with companies such as McLaren (joint V12 engine), PSA (joint engine production), Daimler Benz (joint venture hybrid), Toyota (shared platform, battery research), Audi and Mercedes (joint purchase of service Nokia Here WeGo).
Brands owned by BMW AG Hyundai Motor Group
Hyundai Motor Group is a Korean automotive brand. Quite recently, it began to gain popularity. Hyundai Motor Complany was founded in 1967 and since 1998 Hyundai has taken over Kia. Hyundai Motor Group Holding (founded in 2000) is the second largest in South Korea after Samsung Group. The holding includes automobile brands (and, accordingly, factories): Hyundai, KIA, Genesis. In addition, the holding is engaged in the production of metal, components for cars, construction and finance. The brands Hyndai, Kia, Genesis are also represented in Russia. In addition to passenger cars, the company also manufactures buses under its own brand. The headquarters is located in Seoul city. In addition to Hyundai Motor Group, the giant Hyundai also includes other Hyundai divisions that are engaged in other types of business: Hyundai Heavy Industries Group, Hyundai Development Company Group, Hyundai Department Store Group and Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance.
Brands that belong to the Hyundai Motor Group Tata motors
Tata Motors is the largest automotive company in India. At first glance, the company is not well-known, and even more so it does not pull on the automotive giant. But if you find out that since 2008, Tata has bought car companies Jaguar and Land Rover (including the Rover brand). There are also Tata's own cars. The company was founded in 1945. The headquarters is located in Mumbai (India). Tata Motors is part of the Tata Group holding, founded in 1868. In addition to car production, the holding is also engaged in various types of business and includes such companies as: Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Jaguar Land Rover, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Power, Tata Chemicals, Tata Global Beverages, Tata Coffee, Tata Teleservices, Titan, Voltas , TATA cliq, Tata Communications and The Indian Hotels Company Limited (Taj Hotels). Tata partners with other car manufacturers. This is how the Fiat-Tata joint venture existed (the cooperation ended in 2013).
Brands owned by Tata Motors Geely Automobile
Geely Automobile is one of the largest manufacturers from China. The company is engaged in the production of cars under its own name, and also owns such a well-known brand as Volvo. In addition, the company owns the famous brand Lotus, as well as some other lesser known car brands, for example (London Electric Vehicle Company, which produces British taxi cars). The concern was founded in 1986. The headquarters is located in the city of Binjiang, Hangzhou (China).
Brands owned by Geely Non-holding car manufacturers
We have not yet covered some of the major car manufacturers such as Ford, Honda, Suzuki and Mazda.
Ford owns the Lincoln car brand, although at one time Ford owned brands such as Volvo, Aston Martin, Jaguar, Land Rover. At the moment, the company owns only a fraction of the shares of companies such as Kia and Mazda.
Ford brand logo
There is also a well-known manufacturer of cars, motorcycles and other equipment like Honda, which owns its own premium brand Acura.
Honda Motor Corporation Another well-known Japanese manufacturer Mazda has also repeatedly tried to enter into an alliance with various companies (for example, Ford and Kia), at the moment they are talking about a partnership with Toyota and an exchange of shares (50 billion yen each).
Mazda logo
Also, the Japanese car manufacturer Suzuki is currently not in an alliance with any company, despite the fact that from 2009 to 2011 there was an attempt to create an alliance with Volkswagen.
Outcomes
As you can see, cooperation in the automotive sector is very well developed. Automotive alliances are constantly changing. In addition, the automobile concerns themselves are sometimes included in large industrial holdings, and sometimes simply unite for survival.
Automotive brands that do not cooperate with other companies or are not part of a holding have less and less chances of serious development and competition, and, as a result, a chance of survival.
If you decide to purchase a new car, then you should pay attention not only to its characteristics, but also study the information about the manufacturer. Nowadays, the overwhelming majority of enterprises are part of concerns, and do not work alone.
The term "concern" has German-English roots, but it was possible to find its origin in Latin, where the word meant "to mix". The first concern in the world was founded during the reign of the Florentine leader Cosimo Medici, who was actively involved in the transportation of goods to the countries of Africa and Asia. Once Lee Yaccoca, the famous American manager, said that in the twenty-first century, the global auto market will be controlled by only a couple of companies. In his judgments, he relied exclusively on world trends, so his prediction came true with the highest accuracy, although it seems to many that a large number of independent machine manufacturers work in our world. In reality, there are certain alliances that include car manufacturers.
According to the results of the past 2015, the top 3 world concerns include the American group of companies General Motors, the German alliance Volkswagen Konzern and the largest Japanese automotive association - Toyota Motor Corporation. The GM brand was able to boast of a record level of sales, which sold about ten million cars of its "ward" brands. Let's consider which brands belong to which concerns for 2016.
General Motors: leader or bankrupt
General Motors has come a long and thorny path in its formation. For seventy-seven long years, no other automaker could surpass its sales level, although in 2009 the management filed for bankruptcy. Much has changed since then. General Motors currently includes brands such as Daewoo Alpheon, Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Holden, Opel and Vauxhall Vauxhall). Also GM maintains constant cooperation with such brands as Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Lancia, Ferrari, Maserati, Subaru, Isuzu and Suzuki. ... The company, in which the Treasury Department and the United States of America are the main shareholders, is confidently moving forward, developing its production and creating new, more advanced car models. The corporation's production facilities are located in thirty-five countries, while cars are in demand in almost two hundred countries.
One of the latest developments from General Motors is the GMC Terrain. The debut show of the updated car was carried out in the spring of 2015. However, there were no changes on the technical side, restaling only affected the external and internal designs. Also recently, the world saw the second generation of pickups GMC Canyon Extended Cab and GMC Canyon Crew Cab. In 2016, the next modernization of the car is expected to be released.
Volkswagen AG: development in spite of everything
Another world famous association of automobile companies is the Volkswagen concern. Few people know that the founder of the company is the German designer Ferdinand Porsche. At the end of World War II, the management of the factories passed into the hands of the British administration, and then Lower Saxony began to head the limited liability company, thanks to which the production of food products, as well as the provision of financial and logistics services, began under the well-known brand. The concern owes its current success to the excellent crisis manager Ferdinand Piëch. As of today, there are 342 Volkswagen Konzern companies, including Volkswagen, Audi, Seat, Skoda, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini , Scania (Scania), Man (MAN), Porsche (Porsche), Ducati (Ducati) and so on. Even in spite of the global crisis, in 2009 the company managed to increase its profits by selling more than six million vehicles. Forty-six factories of Volkswagen produce about twenty-six and a half thousand vehicles every day.
The corporation has always been distinguished by very capacious slogans, the main of which is “Das Auto” (“This is a car”), which is both simple and provocative enough, suggesting that other vehicles cannot bear the proud title of “car”.
The spring of 2015 was very fruitful for the company - in March, the updated Volkswagen Passat Alltrack of the eighth generation, equipped with protective plates for the units, was presented, an adapted chassis with off-road modes appeared, and the towing ability was enhanced. Improvements were also made to the electronic part - the picture received from the rear-view camera is displayed on the screen, along with tips about changing the trajectory of movement. If necessary, the system itself can adjust the steering section.
The Volkswagen Jetta Hybrid has not been upgraded either - the aerodynamics of the car have improved significantly, the drag coefficient has decreased.
Toyota Motor Corporation: Drive the Dream
Among the three leaders in automotive concerns, Toyota Motor Corporation was founded the latest. Initially, the company produced looms using a patented technology, according to which, in the event of problems, the equipment had a self-shutdown function. After the sale of the patent, Sakichi Toyoda received the start-up capital for a new business. Having visited Europe and America, the Japanese were determined to develop the automotive industry in their country. The company was initially destined to be successful. Even her name was slightly corrected so that when writing in katakana, the word consisted of eight lines, and eight, as you know, is considered a lucky number. The production developed very dynamically. In 1962, the world saw the millionth car, and just ten years later - the ten millionth. By 1992, every second Sakura resident in the country had a branded car in the garage. In 2009, Toyota ended the year at a loss for the first time in fifty-nine years. Now all the difficulties are in the distant past. The brand's cars are distinguished by ergonomics, reliability and unique design.
Toyota can brag of a collection of brands, among which Subaru and Lexus can be distinguished.
Among the largest corporations, Toyota has completed the largest amount of car restyling work in the past year. It was felt by such models as Toyota Auris, Toyota Auris Touring Sports, Toyota Auris Touring Sports Hybrid, Toyota Avensis, Toyota Avensis Wagon, Toyota Prius +, Toyota Land Cruiser 200, Toyota Alphard. The premiere of the production version was the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid with the impeccable quality of the technical part of the power plants.
Moscow, October 18 - “Vesti. Economy". In 2017, more than 80 million passenger cars were produced worldwide. Below we will tell you about the 10 countries that produce the most cars.
Car production in 2017: 23,554,031 Car production in China increased, but marginally, by just 4.4% in 2017.
Overall, production reached 23.6 million vehicles.
However, China remains the leader in passenger car manufacturing in the global market.
Cars produced in 2017: 16,957,230 Last year, almost 17 million passenger vehicles were produced in the EU. For the first time since the 2007 crisis, the European auto industry reached pre-crisis levels.
The European Union remained in second place in terms of production of passenger cars, with European countries accounting for 21% of the global volume in 2017.
The high quality of Japanese cars is famous all over the world. Due to their reliability and quality, Japanese vehicles are considered to be among the best. 4. USA Vehicle production in 2017: 8,081,623 Last year, production in the United States dropped significantly, down 11.5%. The total number of cars produced exceeded 8 million, which is almost 1 million less than in 2016.
The US auto industry is dominated by the Detroit Big Three - the three largest American auto makers based in Detroit, Michigan, or in its immediate vicinity - General Motors, Ford Motor Company and FCA. 5. India
Cars produced in 2017: 3,886,293 The automotive industry in India accounts for 7.1% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP).
At the same time, India is an exporter of passenger cars and has strong export growth expectations for the near future.
India ousted South Korea from fifth place to become the world's fifth largest car manufacturer. 6. South Korea
Number of cars produced in 2017: 3,783,030 South Korea is today one of the most advanced car-making countries in the world.
From the very beginning, South Korean car manufacturers have focused on competing with German, Japanese and American car brands.
Number of cars produced in 2017: 2,936,509 The main determining factor in the development of the Mexican car industry is the presence of the powerful northern neighbor of the United States.
It should be noted that the Mexican car is not some kind of national product, interesting only to tourists as a colorful means of transportation.
In this part of the North American continent, cars of famous world brands are produced.
At the moment, such monsters of the automotive market as DaimlerChrisyler AG, General Motors, Volkswagen AG, Ford Motor and Nissan have their own production facilities in the country. 8. Brazil
Number of cars produced in 2017: 2,277,604 The automotive industry in Brazil is today one of the leading in the world in terms of the number of vehicles produced.
Despite the fact that the active development of the Brazilian car industry began only in the 1960s, measures of strict protection of the domestic market from imports allow Brazil to maintain significant volumes of domestic production and outpace many countries with a longer history of the development of the automotive industry, in particular the UK, Russia and France. ...
Another feature of the Brazilian auto industry is the long-term production of outdated models of both the national and the global auto industry in a modern version. 9. Canada
Number of vehicles produced in 2017: 2,165,740 There are also a large number of factories of major car manufacturers such as Ford and Toyota located in Canada (mainly in the province of Ontario).
The automotive market in Canada is characterized by high production volumes.
Its growth is mainly due to overseas branches and subsidiaries of Japanese and American companies. 10.Iran
Car production in 2017: 1,408,398 Iran's automotive industry is the third most active industrial sector in the country, after oil and gas, accounting for 10% of Iran's GDP.
Iranian manufacturers currently manufacture six different types of vehicles, including cars, SUVs, trucks, buses, vans and pickups.
The automotive sector directly employs about 500,000 people (approximately 2.3% of the workforce).
About 75% of local production is passenger cars, and pickup production is about 15%.
