Earlier we posted an article about the ten largest markets in the world. According to Brazilian car mag Auto Esporte, the Jato Dynamics auto consultancy group has also compiled the top ten car makers in by August 2010. They have crunched the numbers. Can you guess who is top dog?
Disclaimer: We are talking car BRANDS here. Not manufacturing groups as they are usually tallied in worldwide rankings. This puts companies like GM at a disadvantage that relies on gadzillion of Buicks and Wulings in China to get their numbers. It also should hurt that department store of brands, Volkswagen, but as we shall soon see …
All the top ten brands increased their sales in 2010 (save one). If Sergio Marchionne is to be believed, all makers though are in deep trouble as none will reach the mythical 6 million sales figure (at least individually per brand – here we go again).
Toyota is still on top, but VW passed Ford and is now number two. Chevy, sorry, Chevrolet had a strong showing and thus took fourth place from Honda. Lower down on the table of brands, Fiat’s weak showing (not withstanding its ever growing sales in Brazil), helps consolidate Hyundai as the world’s seventh largest brand.
From an American perspective, I’m sure some of these numbers will be surprising. Nissan (not to mention Renault – Carlos Ghosn must be beaming), for example, had a much stronger worldwide recovery than Honda. Kia might also be causing its relative Hyundai some heartburn. It’s growing much faster than the mothership. Could this mean trouble? Are you surprised?
| Car brands | Jan-Aug 2010 | Jan-Aug 2009 | Change |
| 1 – Toyota | 3,710,395 | 3,223,384 | 15.10% |
| 2 – Volkswagen | 2,836,668 | 2,581,978 | 9.90% |
| 3 – Ford | 2,835,858 | 2,559,954 | 10.80% |
| 4 – Chevrolet | 2,333,063 | 1,871,608 | 24.70% |
| 5 – Honda | 2,107,526 | 1,972,382 | 6.90% |
| 6 – Nissan | 2,044,201 | 1,692,023 | 20.80% |
| 7 – Hyundai | 1,904,592 | 1,661,927 | 14.60% |
| 8 – Fiat | 1,234,484 | 1,289,137 | -4.20% |
| 9 – Renault | 1,083,826 | 921,180 | 17.70% |
| 10- Kia | 1,035,044 | 819,428 | 26.30% |
Like Skoda, the thorn in VW’s side, Hyundai can’t exactly dump Kia for being successful, especially now that it’s found it’s own design language. Call it a happy problem.
No doubt about that
For economies of scale (ie Marchionne’s 6M comment), brands are really irrelevant: it’s the overall corporate volume that matters.
You’re right of course.
at 2,940,000 Hyundai/Kia is #2
Hyundai/Kia is not a brand, is it now?
In fact, it’s not even a company, as Hyundai only has a minority share in Kia.
Text says that “but VW passed Ford and is now number two”. Chart shows that VW was number two in 2009 and 2010. (And Ford narrowed the gap considerably between ’09 and ’10.) Or am I reading it wrong?
You’re right. Sorry for the lapse.
Who cares what the sales are per “brand”? Just because something can be counted and ranked in a top ten format doesn’t mean it is terribly relevant.
Sorry you didn’t like it John, but I just thought it’d be fun and maybe even interesting to see how the individual brands stack up.
To each his own, for sure.
Are you deliberately trying to prevent people from browsing TTAC while at work? That Cajun cooking link and this lingerie ad don’t seem to have any meaningful connection with the articles.
It’s nice to see some female pictures. Keep ’em coming. Women and cars just go together, or maybe I’m just jaded because I have a wife who encourages speed on the winding roads…
Right on!
I agree. Pay no attention to the nattering nabobs of negativity with no sense of humor & who can’t go meta once in awhile.
You picked a good entry image, Marcelo. It’s important that the core ethos of any brand be laid as bare as possible, given the occasional lift, separated from its peers, pushed up above the seam of obscurity, to soar like a hot air balloon above its competitors.
(+If I didn’t know better, I’d suspect you’ve been hanging out with Bertel. :D )
@Willman
I didn’t pick it, Bertel did. But I think it illustrates wonderfully the article! If you like this one you’ll love one that Bertel will put up soon.
A-HAAAA!!! -Knew it!!!
Apparently cheesecake Fridays are back.
So in the interests of fairness we can expect “Sausage Monday?”
@EducatorDan
Maybe that question should be directed at Cammy :)`
Cammy actually started it, and the term is “beefcake”
Actually, I didn’t. The choice of video was by someone else (Deutschland, Deutschland, Uber alles). I just write articles.
As for the “Sausage Monday”. forget it! This is TTAC, not Spike TV. I’d prefer “Pedal to the metal” Mondays, instead…!
Pittances.
McDonalds proudly proclaims “billions and billions served” but nary a concern for the few hundred cows that had to die to allow for those burger patty creations.
Life isn’t fair.
I am hiding in my shanty.
Leave me alone.
I’ll respect your request for solitude, but should clarify the record that nothing resembling a cow has ever gone into a McDonald’s hamburger.
Thank you.
Home alone, friends. Home alone. And eat your heart out, I have a wife who loves to peek over my shoulder when I post this.
Lucky man!
Talk about being distracted by the sexy!
Back on topic…
Chevrolet had a good recovery. That’s gotta be positive news, with the Cruze hitting US dealerships any moment now and the Volt’s introduction imminent. And the Camaro convertible finally gets released in spring 2011, too. So they have product in the pipeline to ride the momentum.
Somebody feed that girl some McDonalds, whatever its made out of. Yuck.
Cameltoe!
(Sorry, it had to be said)
Thanks for the pic!
foad, thx
This is where all those people who respond to GM’s Facebook posts with replies like “Kill Chevy. Bring back Pontiac (Olds, Saturn)! need to actually learn something about the industry.
Chevrolet is the GM global brand. Smart thinking as Chevy, like Coke and McDonalds, represents Americana ’round the world. So it was a good foundation to build upon (despite GM’s squandering of the brand in the USA from 1970 ’til a couple years ago). And a look at the “Chevrolet Worldwide” tab at the bottom of Chevy’s home page illustrates how well they’ve done ’round the globe.
Now if we can just get that mini-pickup and 550-HP Lumina (Holden platform) here in the US…