Toyota Ranks First in Brand Value, Volkswagen Plummets

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems

When it comes to brands that resonate with buyers, no other automaker tops Toyota, according to a recent study.

In its annual ranking, BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands shows the Japanese automaker rising two spots to place 28th out of all companies in 2015. Second and third-place automakers BMW and Mercedes-Benz both gained ground in the rankings.

Two million consumers were polled by researchers at Millward Brown to achieve the rankings.

Due to the damage to its reputation caused by the diesel emissions scandal, Volkswagen no longer ranks among the top 10 automakers. Corporate cousin Audi slipped six spots in the overall rankings, putting it in the number seven spot among automakers.

Proving that consumers believe in the ambition and vision of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the electric carmaker appeared in the top 10 for the first time, ranking number 10. Tesla was propelled up the list due to its interaction with customers and the company’s level of innovative technology.

Millward Brown recently praised Tesla for taking “a revolutionary approach to a moribund product category.”

Rounding out the top 10 list was Honda (4th), Ford (5th), Nissan (6th), Land Rover (8th) and Porsche (9th).

Steph Willems
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  • Ugly Cylon looking ugliness. You can keep em till I'm poor.

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    • Ponchoman49 Ponchoman49 on Jun 09, 2016

      @makuribu Those are truly faces only a mother could love. McDonalds is also very popular with many loyal customers every year snapping up billions and billions of hamburgers yet they often rank mid pack to below average in many comparisons and tests. Most people, usually elderly, seem to buy there Camry's, Corolla's and RAV4's because of low prices and perceived reliability. The problem is most everything else made in the past 5-10 years, save a few notable exceptions, is also very reliable but more fun to drive, have higher quality interiors, better powertrains, flashier colors and styling etc. Point being perception is a hard thing to shake with a public that is 80% just not really interested in cars.

  • Hubcap Hubcap on Jun 08, 2016

    The thing I'd be wary of about VW is Wolfsburg, in an attempt to control costs and recoup a bit of revenue, further managing warranty claims.

    • Speedlaw Speedlaw on Jun 08, 2016

      They already are. I had a 2012 TDi, the DPF cracked at 83k, there was a TSB for it, as I was 3k out of Fed Emissions Warranty, they covered half for good will. $2600 job....tsb.....3k out of warranty. Appears the excessive EGR used to not need AdBlue eats the DPF due to heat. (All that highway running, full throttle runs up mountainsides, etc) My plan of making sure they did every oil change at the dealer probably paid off, even if I ate $1300 for a (we know this NOW) defective system. In a bizarre way, the goodwill package mostly made up for this. My other car has fresh Contis in the garage from the VW dealer...it was that or lots of German Castrol....

  • MazdaThreeve MazdaThreeve on Jun 08, 2016

    Is there a reason with articles like this that we can't get the full list of the results referenced in the snippet? I see the PDF was linked, but can't it just be inline?

  • Wsn Wsn on Jun 08, 2016

    This ranking is really about company size or market share. But it's not really about brand value. For example, Verizon is ranked #8 and China Mobile is ranked #15. They are huge. I get that. But is there much brand value about it? Would I pick them over their competitors based on brand? Not at all. I will just go with the current best deal. These companies don't have unique products and don't have unique service. Their market share won't easily be affected by change of name. So, I don't see their brand value being so high. In comparison, I would pick a Toyota over a GM, even if GM has a better deal. That's brand value.

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    • Highdesertcat Highdesertcat on Jun 09, 2016

      Budda-Boom, the entire industry today is building the best vehicles they've ever built. And that is great for the buyers of new vehicles today. It's truly amazing what a good shake-out and shake-up of the industry, driven by the 2009 bankruptcies and financial demise of GM and Chrysler, has done for the entire industry. Ford really is the only viable American automaker left standing, and anyone who wants to "Buy American" would be well-advised to buy a Ford product.

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