Samsung topples Toyota

Volkswagen and Toyota may slug it out for the title of the world’s biggest car-maker, but the Japanese brand has trounced the German one for brand value.

In a study of the world’s most valuable brands by US consultancy Interbrand, Toyota had the most valuable brand of all the world’s car-makers, with a cited value of more than $US50 billion to rank seventh overall.

Though it’s the world’s second-biggest car-maker behind the Volkswagen Group, Toyota saw its brand value drop six per cent in the Best Global Brands 2017 list.

Toyota’s decline in brand value allowed South Korea’s Samsung, which has an automotive link with batteries for BEV and hybrid cars, to leapfrog it into sixth place overall, at $US56.2 billion.

Toyota’s arch-rival Volkswagen grew its brand value by a single per cent, creeping to a lowly rank of 40th, and ninth amongst car-makers, with a brand value of $40 11.5 billion.

The ranking showed little relationship between brand value and sales volumes, or even profit per share, with Mercedes-Benz listed as the second-ranked car brand ($US48 billion, after a 10 per cent improvement over its 2016 brand value).

As strong as Toyota’s brand value was judged to be, it paled behind the world’s strongest brand, Apple ($US184 billion), second-ranked Google ($US142 billion) and Microsoft ($US80 billion).

The strongest non-tech brand was the fourth-ranked Coca-Cola ($US70 billion), then Amazon ($US65 billion).

BMW chased Mercedes-Benz to be third amongst all car-making brands, with its $US42 billion value almost doubling fourth-placed Honda’s $US23 billion.

While Audi might have trailed its two German arch-rivals to 38th overall and seventh amongst car-makers ($US12 billion), it comfortably headed its parent brand, Volkswagen, suggesting the Dieselgate crisis didn’t hurt its progenitor too badly. Volkswagen’s brand is also relatively weak in the United States.

The leading US brand, Ford, stumbled in at 33rd place overall and fifth amongst car-makers, valued at $US13.6 billion.

French giants Renault and PSA failed to make an impact on the top 100 global brands, largely because of their absence from the US market, though the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance’s first Japanese acquisition, Nissan, ranked 39th overall, one place behind Audi.

The Chinese automotive brands might have their home market locked up, but they’ve yet to break out of their own borders, with none of them making the top 100 list.

Their neighbours in South Korea fared far better, with Hyundai ranked 35th, and sixth amongst car-makers, and Kia was 69th overall and 11th of the car brands.

The premium car brands fared well, but so did the sports car brands, with Porsche valued at $US10 billion to rank 46th overall and Ferrari joining the list for the first time at 88th ($US4.9 billion), ahead of Tesla in 98th place.

There were two British car brands in the top 100, with Land Rover ranked 73rd ($US6 billion) and MINI at 87th.

There was strength in depth for the Volkswagen Group, though, with three brands (including Porsche) in the top 100, while the BMW and Hyundai Motor groups each had two brands.

2017 Interbrand values, auto brands: