A new report has found that when it comes to global car brands, Toyota now tops them all.
The study, released by Global BrandZ, found that with the rebound in car sales following the long recession, Toyota reclaimed its title from BMW as the top-raking automotive brand in the world.
The BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands report, which is based on data collected from the research company, Millward Brown, indicates that a slowdown in Europe impacted BMW’s earnings and was partially responsible for the change in the rankings.
Drawn from interviews with more than 1 million consumers and an analysis of each company’s business performance, the BrandZ study also suggests that Toyota’s increase in the rankings was likely attributed to the automaker addressing the quality issues following a rash of huge recalls in 2010.
The report, which also considers product sales in assessing the value of a company, also indicated that while car sales improved in some regions, they still remained lower than pre-recession levels.
In the U.S., where year-on-year sales increased to 14.5 million cars, Ford was the country’s best-selling brand with US sales of 2.1 million cars.
General Motor’s Chevrolet brand came in second, selling 1.9 million cars. Volkswagen posted a 35 percent increase in sales, its third consecutive year of double-digit US unit growth.
Volkswagen’s Audi brand experienced its best year ever in the US, with sales growth of 19 percent, according to the report. Toyota’s U.S. sales climbed 26 percent and Honda’s 24 percent. Chrysler’s sales improved 39 percent. Korea’s Hyundai brand sold over 700,000 cars in the US.
The Global Z report states that an improvement and quality and more technology features like remote start was a driving factor with new vehicle purchases.
