World's Top Ten Car Brands in 2010

Marcelo de Vasconcellos
by Marcelo de Vasconcellos

Here we go again. For your perusal pleasure, you’ll find below JATO Dynamics Brazil survey of the biggest car brands in the world’s largest markets in 2010 (as reported by Brazilian car business site automotivebusiness.com.br). Mind you, we’re talking brands here. We are NOT talking manufacturer groups. So Nissan is definitely separated from Renault, Fiat’s numbers do not include Chrysler, nor does Chevrolet include Cadillac or for that matter Wuling. It’s a little different from OICA’s list. And, to me at least, very interesting. I believe this list reflects better how consumers view the individual brands.

Fiat-Chrysler for example, out of the top 10 car groups’ listing, makes it back into the top 10 in the form of Fiat. The French twins Peugeot and Citroën leave, while Renault keeps the flour-de-lis flying in the top 10. According to the site that published the list, Kia makes it into top 10 for the first time. Chevrolet also, as a brand, posted an excellent recovery in 2010.

Every brand on the list posted double digit gains — except Fiat, Honda and Toyota. While the Japanese still grew a little, Fiat was the only one that actually lost ground. Ford had an excellent year, as did VW. Toyota managed to hang onto first though it grew slightly less than competitors. Of the Japanese, Nissan did best. Kia grew more than ten percent more than parent Hyundai. I’ll say it once, I’ll say it again, the ex-Audi guy at Kia is a lot better than that ex-BMW guy at Hyundai.

Car BrandSales 2010Sales 2009Difference1 – Toyota5,496,3465,128,6477.2%2 – Volkswagen4,407,0623,972,83910.9%3 – Ford4,320,7923,901,31510.8%4 – Chevrolet3,592,6002,939,02622.2%5 – Honda3,152,1973,017,4914.5%6 – Nissan3,088,2982,621,88217.8%7 – Hyundai2,931,3252,608,22012.4%8 – Fiat1,853,2821,954,250-5.3%9 – Renault1,668,6151,481,04512.7%10 – Kia1,593,6021,297,55522.8%

This all on strength of the global market recovering. As the US, but specially Europe remained largely stable, this showed just how important Asia and the rest of the developing world is becoming to car makers. However, as this year the US market is facing a strong rebound look for Honda, Toyota, Ford and Chevrolet to be even stronger next year. Chrysler could well climb back into the top 10.

Disclosure: the survey was carried out just in 22 of the world’s main markets, to wit: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Great Britain, India, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Thailand, Turkey and the United States. It includes sales of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles (pick-ups and vans, but no buses or heavy trucks).


Marcelo de Vasconcellos
Marcelo de Vasconcellos

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  • Lorenzo They won't be sold just in Beverly Hills - there's a Nieman-Marcus in nearly every big city. When they're finally junked, the transfer case will be first to be salvaged, since it'll be unused.
  • Ltcmgm78 Just what we need to do: add more EVs that require a charging station! We own a Volt. We charge at home. We bought the Volt off-lease. We're retired and can do all our daily errands without burning any gasoline. For us this works, but we no longer have a work commute.
  • Michael S6 Given the choice between the Hornet R/T and the Alfa, I'd pick an Uber.
  • Michael S6 Nissan seems to be doing well at the low end of the market with their small cars and cuv. Competitiveness evaporates as you move up to larger size cars and suvs.
  • Cprescott As long as they infest their products with CVT's, there is no reason to buy their products. Nissan's execution of CVT's is lackluster on a good day - not dependable and bad in experience of use. The brand has become like Mitsubishi - will sell to anyone with a pulse to get financed.
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