World's Top Ten Car Brands in August 2010

Marcelo de Vasconcellos
by Marcelo de Vasconcellos

Earlier we posted an article about the ten largest markets in the world. According to Brazilian car mag Auto Esporte, the Jato Dynamics auto consultancy group has also compiled the top ten car makers in by August 2010. They have crunched the numbers. Can you guess who is top dog?

Disclaimer: We are talking car BRANDS here. Not manufacturing groups as they are usually tallied in worldwide rankings. This puts companies like GM at a disadvantage that relies on gadzillion of Buicks and Wulings in China to get their numbers. It also should hurt that department store of brands, Volkswagen, but as we shall soon see …

All the top ten brands increased their sales in 2010 (save one). If Sergio Marchionne is to be believed, all makers though are in deep trouble as none will reach the mythical 6 million sales figure (at least individually per brand – here we go again).

Toyota is still on top, but VW passed Ford and is now number two. Chevy, sorry, Chevrolet had a strong showing and thus took fourth place from Honda. Lower down on the table of brands, Fiat’s weak showing (not withstanding its ever growing sales in Brazil), helps consolidate Hyundai as the world’s seventh largest brand.

From an American perspective, I’m sure some of these numbers will be surprising. Nissan (not to mention Renault – Carlos Ghosn must be beaming), for example, had a much stronger worldwide recovery than Honda. Kia might also be causing its relative Hyundai some heartburn. It’s growing much faster than the mothership. Could this mean trouble? Are you surprised?

Car brandsJan-Aug 2010Jan-Aug 2009Change1 – Toyota3,710,3953,223,38415.10%2 – Volkswagen2,836,6682,581,9789.90%3 – Ford2,835,8582,559,95410.80%4 – Chevrolet2,333,0631,871,60824.70%5 – Honda2,107,5261,972,3826.90%6 – Nissan2,044,2011,692,02320.80%7 – Hyundai1,904,5921,661,92714.60%8 – Fiat1,234,4841,289,137-4.20%9 – Renault1,083,826921,18017.70%10- Kia1,035,044819,42826.30%
Marcelo de Vasconcellos
Marcelo de Vasconcellos

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  • Partsisparts Partsisparts on Oct 01, 2010

    Thanks for the pic!

  • Budda-Boom Budda-Boom on Oct 02, 2010

    This is where all those people who respond to GM's Facebook posts with replies like "Kill Chevy. Bring back Pontiac (Olds, Saturn)! need to actually learn something about the industry. Chevrolet is the GM global brand. Smart thinking as Chevy, like Coke and McDonalds, represents Americana 'round the world. So it was a good foundation to build upon (despite GM's squandering of the brand in the USA from 1970 'til a couple years ago). And a look at the "Chevrolet Worldwide" tab at the bottom of Chevy's home page illustrates how well they've done 'round the globe. Now if we can just get that mini-pickup and 550-HP Lumina (Holden platform) here in the US...

  • Mebgardner I test drove a 2023 2.5 Rav4 last year. I passed on it because it was a very noisy interior, and handled poorly on uneven pavement (filled potholes), which Tucson has many. Very little acoustic padding mean you talk loudly above 55 mph. The forums were also talking about how the roof leaks from not properly sealed roof rack holes, and door windows leaking into the lower door interior. I did not stick around to find out if all that was true. No talk about engine troubles though, this is new info to me.
  • Dave Holzman '08 Civic (stick) that I bought used 1/31/12 with 35k on the clock. Now at 159k.It runs as nicely as it did when I bought it. I love the feel of the car. The most expensive replacement was the AC compressor, I think, but something to do with the AC that went at 80k and cost $1300 to replace. It's had more stuff replaced than I expected, but not enough to make me want to ditch a car that I truly enjoy driving.
  • ToolGuy Let's review: I am a poor unsuccessful loser. Any car company which introduced an EV which I could afford would earn my contempt. Of course I would buy it, but I wouldn't respect them. 😉
  • ToolGuy Correct answer is the one that isn't a Honda.
  • 1995 SC Man it isn't even the weekend yet
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