Toyota Climbs Ladder of Most Valuable Brands, Tesla Cracks the Top 100

by Steph Willems

Published: October 5th, 2016

Interbrand released its annual list of the world’s top 100 brands, a ranking that now contains an independent automaker.

While Toyota climbs one spot to the No. 5 position (the highest of all automakers), Tesla has muscled its way onto the field, slotting at No. 100. Volkswagen continues the brand value descent it began last year, falling from No. 35 to No. 40 and posting a value decline of 9 percent.

There’s grim news for GM, as none of its brands made the list this year.

Mercedes-Benz now finds itself in the Top Ten, a heady hangout dominated by Apple, Google, and Coca-Cola. The German automaker moves up three spots, from No. 12 to No. 9. Meanwhile, its chief rival, BMW, went nowhere, staying put in the No. 11 spot. Honda gave up ground, slipping from No. 19 to No. 21.

In general, most of the automotive brands saw gains this year, with the most significant jumps coming from those near the bottom. For example, Mini leaped up ten spots in this year’s brand ranking, settling in at No. 88. Land Rover moved up to No. 78 from last year’s 87th place.

Chevrolet, which was ranked No. 85 last year, is nowhere to be found on the list.

The full list of automakers in the top 100 are:

Toyota (No. 5)

Mercedes-Benz (No. 9)

BMW (No. 11)

Honda (No. 21)

Ford (No. 33)

Hyundai (No. 35)

Audi (No. 38)

Volkswagen (No. 40)

Nissan (No. 43)

Porsche (No. 50)

Kia (No. 69)

Land Rover (No. 78)

Mini (No. 88)

Tesla (No. 100)

Interbrand calls itself a pioneer in the field of brand valuation. Brands are ranked based on a number of elements, including ability to generate profit, consumer demand, and customer loyalty.

#Automakers #BrandAppeal #CustomerLoyalty #Interbrand #Profits #Rankings

Steph Willems

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17 of 19 comments

Bikegoesbaa on Oct 05, 2016

It's amazing how in 2 generations GM went from "widely beloved institution" to "almost nobody cares".

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- Indi500fan on Oct 05, 2016
  
  They've actually done far better in sales post-bk than I ever expected. I figured 5 years after bk they'd be essentially done in the US. Inertia is a powerful force.
  
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- Tekdemon on Oct 06, 2016
  
  It's been more than 3 decades since it was a beloved institution, even when I was growing up in the 80's people had a lot of reliability concerns and were switching to Toyotas and Hondas.
  
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- Bd2 on Oct 07, 2016
  
  Eh - GM's "problem" is that it is split into numerous brands - Chevy, Buick, Cadillac, GMC, Opel and Vauxhall. GM is generating a Billion a month in pre-tax profit - so think that they are doing more than fine.
  
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Old Man Pants on Oct 05, 2016

While of course Toyota and Honda belong at the top of any vehicle assessment this "branding valuation" stuff strikes me as equally objective and informative as a high school clique. I mean, seriously, German cars in with Japanese?

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- VoGo on Oct 05, 2016
  
  Here is how you calculate brand value: 1. Look at the additional price the brand carries vs. generic. So in midsized sedans, a Honda Accord will carry a $2,000 premium over a 200. 2. Multiply that premium by the annual sales of the model globally 3. Do that for every model and add them up. So it actually has real math behind the calculation.
  
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- Old Man Pants on Oct 05, 2016
  
  @VoGo But for purposes of ranking relative quality wouldn't it be necessary to segregate cars considered disposable by their lessees from those that represent a more durable good? If leases were omitted from consideration can you seriously imagine anything German being in the top 50? German OEMs have invented the 3-year "premium" car and this popularity contest is fine with that.
  
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- Stuki on Oct 05, 2016
  
  @Old Man Pants "Bramd value" and "quality", are so distantly related, as to be almost orthogonal. Think Rolex vs Casio. In a somewhat perverse sense, nothing flaunts "brand value" like being able to command top dollar for cars that don't even start.
  
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- Old Man Pants on Oct 06, 2016
  
  @stuki Yeah, my take on this is that the Germans' answer to the challenge of kaizen was to drop out of med school and become flashy hookers. As both doctors and hookers provide a sort of bodily therapy so do both Japanese and Germans provide a sort of motor vehicle and I've always known which one I would chose to marry.
  
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- Corey Lewis on Oct 06, 2016
  
  @stuki People can't separate brand value or prestige and reliability/quality. In a car group on Facebook, I say "Cadillac doesn't have the brand prestige to compete with the high dollar Germans." Four dudes named Rick chime in, "Dude Mercedes and BMW aren't reliable at all and they cost so much to repair!" Yeah that's NOT WHAT I'M SAYING, MORONS.
  
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Roberto Esponja on Oct 05, 2016

Jeep didn't make the list? Please...

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- VoGo on Oct 05, 2016
  
  It's a global list.
  
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- Ajla on Oct 05, 2016
  
  @VoGo That makes it kind of surprising to see that Budweiser, Jack Daniel's, and Harley Davidson all made the list.
  
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- Thattruthguy on Oct 07, 2016
  
  @ajla H-D is unique worldwide. Many countries have a popular local 4x4.
  
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Jagboi on Oct 05, 2016

I was surprised to not see things like Exxon on the list. Shell looked like the only oil company.

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- Corey Lewis on Oct 06, 2016
  
  Never forget the Valdez.
  
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- Thattruthguy on Oct 07, 2016
  
  Shell is the largest retail oil brand worldwide, by a lot.
  
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