Top 13 Automotive Brands of the World

The perceived difference between the top car brands and the challengers is shrinking. That's the finding of the 2012 Car-Brand Perception Survey conducted by the Consumer Reports National Research Center. The survey scores reflect how consumers perceive each brand in seven categories: safety, quality, value, performance, environmentally friendly/green, design/style, and technology/innovation. Combining those factors gives us the total brand-perception score. While the scores reflect a brand's image in consumers' minds, they do not reflect the actual qualities of any brand's vehicles. Here are top 13 automative brands

 based on the rankings of Interbrand, the world’s biggest brand consultancy which has listed companies in the automotive sector in terms of their brand value:

1) TOYOTA:



Toyota is a Japanese multinational automaker headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan.The company was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda in 1937 as a spinoff from his father's company Toyota Industries to create automobiles.

Toyota has a brand value of $30,280 million. This Japanese based automaker is considered as one of the world’s largest company by revenue. As of July 2012 the company reported that it had manufactured its 200 millionth vehicle.

2)MERCEDES BENZ:

Mercedes-Benz is a multinational division of the German manufacturer Daimler AG, and the brand is used for luxury automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. Mercedes-Benz is headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. 

Mercedes Benz has a brand value of $30,097 million. This brand is usually associated with luxury automobiles, buses, trucks and coaches. Besides its native Germany, Mercedes-Benz vehicles are also manufactured or assembled in several other countries.

3)BMW:

 BMW(Bayerische Motoren Werke) is a German automobile, motorcycle and engine manufacturing company founded in 1917. BMW is headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. It also owns and produces the Mini marque, and is the parent company of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. The first car which BMW successfully produced and the car which launched BMW on the road to automobile production was the Dixi. 

BMW has a brand value of $29,052 million. It is reported that about 56% of the company’s vehicles produced are powered by petrol engines and the remaining 44% are powered by diesel engines. In 2010, the BMW group produced 1,481,253 automobiles and 112,271 motorcycles across all its brands.

4)HONDA: 

Honda Motor Company, Ltd is a Japanese public multinational corporation primarily known as a manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles. Honda was the first Japanese automobile manufacturer to release a dedicated luxury brand, Acura, in 1986. The company has assembly plants around the globe. These plants are located in China, the United States, Pakistan, Canada, England, Japan, Belgium, Brazil, México, New Zealand, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Thailand, Turkey, Taiwan and Perú. Honda has a brand value of $17,280 million. Primarily known for its automobile and motorcycle, the company has consistently proved itself to be one of the world’s remarkable brands.

5)VOLKSWAGEN:

Volkswagen is a German automobile manufacturer and the original and biggest-selling marque of the Volkswagen Group. It has three cars in the top 10 list of best-selling cars of all time compiled by the website 24/7 Wall St: the Volkswagen Golf, the Volkswagen Beetle, and the Volkswagen Passat. With these three cars, Volkswagen has the most cars of any automobile manufacturer in the list that are still being manufactured.

Volkswagen was originally founded in 1937 by the Nazi trade union, the German Labour Front (Deutsche Arbeitsfront). Its headquarters is in Wolfsburg,Germany. Volkswagen has a brand value of $9,252 million.

6)FORD:

Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. 

The company sells automobiles and commercial vehicles under the Ford brand and luxury cars under the Lincoln brand.

Henry Ford was 40 years old when he founded the Ford Motor Company, which would go on to become one of the world's largest and most profitable companies, as well as being one to survive the Great Depression. As one of the largest family-controlled companies in the world, the Ford Motor Company has been in continuous family control for over 100 years.

Ford has a brand value of $7,958 million. This American multinational automaker sells automobiles and commercial vehicles under the Ford brand. The company introduced methods for large-scale manufacturing of cars using elaborately engineered manufacturing sequences typified by moving assembly lines.

7)HYUNDAI : 

Hyundai Motor Company is a South Korean multinational automaker headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. Hyundai was founded in 1967. Hyundai operates the world's largest integrated automobile manufacturing facility in Ulsan, which is capable of producing 1.6 million units annually.

Hyundai has a brand value of $7,473 million. The company operates as one of the world's largest integrated automobiles which are sold in 193 countries through some 6,000 dealerships and showrooms worldwide. Chung Ju-yung was the founder of Hyundai Motor's.

8)AUDI :

The company name is based on the surname of the founder, August Horch. "Horch", meaning "listen", becomes "Audi" when translated into Latin. The four rings of the Audi logo each represent one of four car companies that banded together to create the company. Audi's slogan is Vorsprung durch Technik, meaning "Advancement through Technology". Recently in the United States, Audi has updated the slogan to "Truth in Engineering". 

Audi has a brand value of $7,196 million. The company designs, engineers, manufactures and distribute automobiles and motorcycles under the Audi, Ducati and Lamborghini brands. The Audi emblem symbolises the amalgamation of Audi with DKW, Horch and Wanderer.

9)PORSCHE :

 Porsche is a German holding company with investments in the automotive industry. The company was founded by Ferdinand Porsche, an Austrian engineer born in Maffersdorf, during the time of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Porsche's son-in-law Anton Piëch, an Austrian lawyer.

Porsche has a brand value of $5,149 million. The company is considered as one of the prestigious and successful brands in the world. Porsche is currently the world's largest race car manufacturer.

10) NISSAN :

Nissan is a multinational automaker headquartered in Japan. It was a core member of the Nissan Group, but has become more independent after its restructuring under Carlos Ghosn (CEO). The name 'Nissan' originated during the 1930s as an abbreviation used on the Tokyo stock market for Nippon Sangyo. Nissan eventually grew to include 74 firms, and became the fourth-largest combine in Japan during World War II.

Nissan has a brand value of $4,969 million. The Japanese multinational automaker has its own distinct corporate culture and brand identity. Along with its normal range of models, Nissan also produces a range of luxury models branded as Infiniti.

11) KIA Motors :

KIA Motors is headquartered in Seoul, is South Korea's second-largest automobile manufacturer, following the Hyundai Motor Company, with sales of over 1.4 million vehicles in 2010.The company is partly owned by the Hyundai Motor Group. The word Kia derives from Korean words meaning "to arise to the world from Asia".

Kia has a brand value of $4,089 million. Kia Motors Corporation's brand slogan is "The Power to Surprise"

12) HARLEY-DAVIDSON :

Harley-Davidson Inc is an American motorcycle manufacturer. Founded in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, during the first decade of the 20th century, it was one of two major American motorcycle manufacturers to survive the Great Depression. Harley-Davidson also survived a period of poor quality control and competition from Japanese manufacturers. The company sells heavyweight (over 750 cc) motorcycles designed for cruising on highways. Harley-Davidson motorcycles (popularly known as "Harleys") have a distinctive design and exhaust note.

It has a brand value of $3,857 million. The brandis known to have attracted loyal brand community. Harley-Davidson motorcycles have long been associated with the sub-cultures of the biker, motorcycle clubs, and outlaw motorcycle clubs.

13) FERRARI :

Ferrari is an Italian sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1929, as Scuderia Ferrari, the company sponsored drivers and manufactured race cars before moving into production of street-legal vehicles as Ferrari in 1947. Throughout its history, the company has been noted for its continued participation in racing, especially in Formula One, where it has had great success. Ferrari road cars are generally seen as a symbol of luxury and wealth.Ferrari has a brand value of $3,770 million.