Which companies own the biggest car brands in the world?

Most people know that Lexus is a subsidiary of Toyota or that BMW owns Mini, but did you know that Lamborghini is owned by Audi, which is owned by Volkswagen?

You will probably be surprised to hear about this partnership that you have never heard of before.

Those who hear that the most popular car in the world is a branch of another major car company cannot hide their surprise.

Here is a lesser known collaboration of the automotive world..

Toyota

Toyota, one of the world’s most loved car brands, produces approximately 10 million vehicles each year and is the world leader in the hybrid market, surpassing the total sales of 200,000 hybrid vehicles in Australia between 2001 and 2021. Toyota also manufactures heavy-duty vehicles. commercialized under the Hino brand.

Lexus and Daihatsu, It is among the car companies under the Toyota roof.

Lexus

Lexus was founded in the late 80s to serve as the luxury car division of Toyota. In Australia the brand has grown and now has a line-up Down Under of 11 models, including the IS and RC, which goes up against BMW, the new LC halo sports car and a range of SUVs. Several other brands have tried to repeat the success story of Lexus with their luxury branches, but none have achieved the same results.

Daihatsu

Founded in 1907, Daihatsu is a new name under the Toyota umbrella and was fully owned in August 2016. Originally founded in 1907 under the name Hatsudoki Seizo, the company was renamed Daihatsu in 1951.

General Motors

General Motors is a Detroit company founded in the United States in 1908. General Motors, one of the largest companies in the United States, currently manufactures cars in 15 different countries.

The company includes the Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC brands.

Chevrolet – (1911)

Chevrolet, an American-based automobile company founded in 1911, takes its name from the surname of its founder, Louis Chevrolet. Chevrolet joined General Motors in 1918, which bought 54.6% of it.

Buick – (1899)

Buick is an American car brand. Founded in 1899 by David Dunbar Buick in Detroit, Michigan, it is America’s oldest automobile brand. It is now part of General Motors.

Despite recovering from low sales caused by the GFC in 2009, Buick’s sales fell to a ten-year low in 2020, down more than 20 percent from the previous year.

Cadillac (1902)

Cadillac, known as GM’s luxury brand, was acquired in 1909. Today, however, the brand sets itself apart with its ‘art and science’ design philosophy in a variety of sedans, roadsters, crossovers and SUVs.

The BMW Group

Founded in 1926, BMW celebrated its centenary in 2016. The company has shareholders covering many continents of the world. Strategic investors own about 47 percent of the luxury brand, while institutional investors from North America, the UK, Ireland, Germany and other parts of Europe hold a total of 40 percent.

Mini – (1959)

Mini was first introduced as a model introduced by the British Motor Corporation in 1969 before becoming a brand in its own right. Since then, it has changed hands several times with groups related to BMC until it was bought by BMW in 1994.

Rolls-Royce – (1906)

Rolls-Royce is perhaps the most respected luxury car brand in the world. It also produces commercial jet engines, although it is a separate company. Rolls-Royce was nationalized in 1971, then privatized in 1987. It was later bought by Volkswagen in 1998 and BMW in 2003.

Volkswagen

volkswagen, It was founded by the German Workers’ Association with the aim of making a car for the German population.

The name Volkswagen, founded in 1937, means people’s car in German.

Audi – (1910)

Audi that was managed by Daimler Benz was previously under the control of VW in the 1960s. The Audi name, which remained inactive for 25 years under Daimler, was revived in 1965. The brand is today one of the leading manufacturers in the world.

Lamborghini – (1963)

Today, Lamborghini is wholly owned by Audi, which as of 2011 has strengthened its support. The brand currently makes some of the most sought-after cars in the world, including the Huracan, Aventador and most recently the Urus SUV.

Bentley (1919)

The British company known for its luxury cars was an independent company for 12 years before being taken over by Rolls-Royce. Then, when Rolls went bankrupt in 1980, Bentley was sold to Vickers PLC. Finally, VW revived the brand when it was acquired in 1998.

Bugatti-Rimac – (1909/2009)

Bugatti was known for its aesthetic design, originally created by the Italian artist Ettore Bugatti. However, after Ettore died in 1947, the company was dissolved and liquidated as a car manufacturer in the 1960s. It was revived for a few years by Italian entrepreneur Romano Artioli in 1987 and finally bought by VW in 1998.

Rimac is a Croatian company named after its founder, Mate Rimac, known for advanced battery and electric vehicle technology. Although Porsche owns a 24 percent stake in Rimac, an agreement was reached in July 2021 for VW Group to acquire more of Rimac’s technology in exchange for a 55 percent stake in Bugatti, with Mate Rimac as CEO of the company at the age of 33.

Skoda – (1895)

Not fully controlled by VW until 2000, Skoda aimed to be the group’s entry-level brand, offering cars cheaper than Volkswagen but using engines and technology common to both brands. Smart design ideas helped the brand maintain its identity.

Porsche – (1931)

Operating independently for years and as one of the most profitable car companies in the world, Porsche was bought by Volkswagen in 2012. After four years of attempts by Volkswagen to buy the company, it managed to acquire 49.9 percent of it.

The Chair – (1950)

Volkswagen Group, which was owned by the Spanish Government from 1950 to 1986, acquired a 51 percent stake in Seat before buying 99.99 percent of the company in 1990.

Cupra – (1985)

Originally launched as Seat Sport, the Spanish manufacturer’s motorsport division was renamed Cupra in 2018. Cupra, the Volkswagen Group’s private performance company, will arrive in Australia this year with a range of VW, Audi and Skoda models designed fresh, high performance.

Tata Motors

Founded in 1945, Tata is an Indian brand and is part of the Tata conglomerate. Between 1954 and 1969 the brand collaborated with Daimler-Benz. Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) was later acquired from Ford in 2008.

Land Rover – (1948)

Land Rover was bought by Tata Motors in 2008, but is still revered as a British icon. Range Rover, meanwhile, has been established for a long time (since 1970) as a comprehensive range of brands.

Jaguar – (1922)

Jaguar is a British luxury car brand that was previously controlled by Ford from 1989 to 2008. Under Ford’s ownership, the brand was not profitable. Following this failure and the global financial crisis, Ford chose to sell it, along with Land Rover, to its current owner, Tata.

Both brands under the JLR umbrella have been revived since the Tata acquisition, with significant production investment, including the Ingenium engine plant in the UK, as well as an explosion of new models and variants.

Hyundai Motor Group

Hyundai was founded in 1967. The Hyundai Group, together with its subsidiary Kia, which owns 34 percent, is one of the largest automobile manufacturers. The company continues to make affordable and relatively conservative cars for motoring enthusiasts, but has recently branched out into performance models, including the fully fueled i30N hot hatch, to broaden its appeal.

Kia – (1944)

The Hyundai-owned brand is similar to its parent company in that it is based in South Korea and makes cheap and fuel-efficient cars and has regularly challenged the parent company in the Australian sales race. Kia was crippled in 1997 before being rescued through an ownership swap with Hyundai. Today, its quality and appeal are unrecognizable compared to some of its predecessors, and cars like the Stinger’s high-powered sports coupe and the electric EV6 continue to blow away the distinction.

Genesis – (2015)

At first, it was the best model of Hyundai’s class. However, it has now become its own independent brand. Currently, it has two high-performance sedans (G70, G80) and two SUVs (GV70, GV80).

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Founded in 1986, Geely is a Chinese automobile brand that has grown rapidly since 2002, when it began manufacturing cars. The brand, which sells most of its cars in China, successfully bought Volvo from Ford in 2010 and is preparing to conquer the western world with cars. hopefully it will address the most demanding needs.

Volvo – (1915)

Originally a Swedish bearing company, Volvo began manufacturing cars in 1927. By 1999, the Volvo group chose to sell its automotive division to focus on commercial vehicles. Ford bought the brand before selling it to Geely in 2010.

Lotus – (1948)

Founded by two university graduates, Lotus is a British low-end sports car manufacturer and throughout its more than 70-year history has focused on lightweight, low-performance cars based on founder Colin Chapman’s motto “add up”.

Polestar – (1996)

Founded as the performance and racing division of Volvo, Polestar was officially sold to the Swedish company in 2015 and their racing operation was renamed Lynk & Co, which uses a combination of Geely and Volvo hardware in its cars. Polestar is now a dedicated EV manufacturer and builds the Polestar 1, 2 and 3, which share some Volvo hardware and products. The Polestar 2 went on sale in Australia earlier this year, with a local model to be announced in mid-2021.

Daimler AG

Founded in 1926, Daimler is a German automobile manufacturer that sells its vehicles under the world famous Mercedes-Benz brand. The company was formed by the merger of the Daimler and Benz car companies before they bought Chrysler in 1998 and became Daimler Chrysler AG. It later became known as Daimler AG, after selling the American brand in 2007.

Mercedes-Benz – (1883)

Mercedes-Benz is the oldest car manufacturer in the world. Today, the brand is known for its range of luxury cars and its high-performance car division called AMG, as well as its involvement in Formula 1.

Smart (1994)

Smart is a brand of Daimler AG that makes only small and compact cars. Originally just the brainchild of the head of the Swiss watchmaker Swatch, the company and Mercedes reached an agreement to manufacture the car in the same year. The brand withdrew from the Australian market in 2015 due to declining sales. In 2019, Daimler and Geely announced a joint venture to manufacture Smart cars in China for global distribution.

Maybach (1909)

Maybach was bought by Daimler in 1960 and became the company’s luxury brand, in direct competition with Rolls Royce. However, weak sales meant that the brand was discontinued in 2012. It was later revived in 2015 as ‘Mercedes-Maybach’ with a series of models more closely related to Mercedes cars than its previous life.