In
their 6th annual ‘Brandz’ release, Millward Brown included a list of
the top 10 most valuable car brands in the world. Considering Toyota’s
recent large scale recalls, you might be surprised to find them the top
of the list – with an estimated value of some USD $24.2bn. Millward
Brown put this down to the continued popularity of Toyota’s highly
fuel-efficient Prius model. The lesson to be learned from this, then, is
that minor issues such as brakes that don’t quite work and accelerator
pads that can’t be released are relatively unimportant, easily
compensated for by a lower petrol bill and a cheap tires.
With
first place going to Japan, European car manufacturers BMW and Mercedes
Benz claimed second and third place respectively, with the first and
only American brand (Ford) entering at a modest eight position, which
must be worrying considering the amount of money that is being poured
into the ailing American car giants.
The full top ten list looks as follows:
- Toyota
- BMW
- Mercedes Benz
- Honda
- Porsche
- Nissan
- Volkswagen
- Ford
- Audi
- Lexus
Statistics shows that there is an increased demand for Toyota car finance,
meaning that people are quite keen on purchasing Japanese cars,
especially the Prius. Millward Brown also noticed that smaller Korean
car manufacturers have made a massive leap during the last year. It's
likely that in a couple of years time brands like Hyundai will easily be
near to the top of this list. With new green models in the pipeline and
brand recognition increasing worldwide it sounds quite plausible,
however, when it comes to Japanese brands, it will be difficult for
anyone to displace them from the top 10.
