Over the years I have found confusion in knowing which corporation is behind many automotive brands. Considering the huge change in the American automotive industry in 2009, it makes things nearly impossible to sort out. So, I’m going to figure out who owns what and post it right here!
Europe
Audi: Simply owned by Volkswagen. Volkswagen has owned 99.55% of Audi since 1964, after it was purchased from Daimler Benz
BMW: This brand appears as itself, save for a tiny percentage of shareholders.
Jaguar: British right? Nope. Since 1989 this luxury brand has been owned by Ford Motor Company. So it’s American? That’s not right either, as of 2008. Ford sold the company to Tata Motors of India in 2008. So technically Jaguar is an Asian brand (although it is still manufactured in the U.K.)
Mercedes-Benz: Ok, there is so much confusing corporate stuff I could cover here that has happened in the last year. But, lets save it. The manufacturer is owned by Daimler AG in Germany.
Porsche: Awesome cars. This manufacturer is family owned by the Porsche family descended from Ferdinand Porsche, with large amounts of the company also in the hands of the German public
Saab: Currently owned by General Motors based in America, GM reports possibly closing down the popular Swedish brand.
Volkswagen: Appears as itself in this cast list.
Volvo: Currently owned by Ford Motor Company, Ford reports being in the process of selling the Swedish brand to Chinese car company “Geely”.
Volkswagen recently gained a controlling interest (49.9%) in Porsche AG in December. So while the Porsche family still owns the holding company, they've lost the car organization. Though, one could argue that it's all in the family, Ferdinand Porsche designed the Beetle after all.
ReplyDeleteAlso, SAAB is likely dead but Dutch carmaker Spyker is technically still in the bidding.
Mini is a wholly owned subsidiary of BMW.
Shoot, I could rattle off a ton of information on who owns who if you want.
It's official: Spyker is buying Saab.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.autoblog.com/2010/01/26/breaking-gm-reaches-agreement-to-saab-to-spyker/
Oh good! I was hoping that brand wouldnt go to waste...
ReplyDelete