36 groups own 101 marques. The largest three own 32 of them.
Every marque under the company that controls it. The code beside each name is where the brand was born, so nationality still reads off this view. An indented run is a company inside the company.
15
Stellantis
registered in the Netherlands
Marques from the Fiat, Peugeot and Chrysler families, merged in 2021 and registered in the Netherlands. Almost none of them is Dutch.
FarizonCN
London Electric Vehicle CompanyGB
PolestarSE
smartDE
Volvo CarsSE
via Geely Automobile Holdings
Geely AutoCN
Geely GalaxyCN
Lynk & CoCN
ZeekrCN
8
Volkswagen AG
Germany
One German group holding Skoda, SEAT, Audi, Porsche, Bentley and Lamborghini. The group itself is controlled by the Porsche and Piech families through a holding company, on votes rather than shares.
6
SAIC Motor
China
No car is sold as an SAIC: the names it owns outright include MG, which stayed British in everything but ownership, while the joint ventures on its own subsidiary list build Volkswagens and Buicks for China. Shanghai's city government controls it through an unlisted parent company rather than holding the shares itself.
4
BMW
Germany
The British marques were bought, not built: MINI came with the Rover Group, and the Rolls-Royce name came from the aero-engine maker in a split that sent the Crewe factory and Bentley to Volkswagen. The largest blocks of ordinary shares are listed under members of the Quandt family rather than under a holding company.
4
Changan
China
Changan names its own brands rather than buying them, and the joint ventures on its books build Fords and Mazdas for China. The state owns it through a chain of holding companies that were renamed and then split apart in 2025, which leaves the listed company itself as the name anyone outside China recognises.
4
General Motors
the United States
No car is sold as a GM: the badges are names the company owns outright, while the subsidiaries on its own list are finance arms, regional operations and Chinese joint ventures. No shareholder controls it.
4
Toyota
Japan
Barely a percentage in sight: Lexus, Century and the Toyota badge are names, not companies, and only Daihatsu was bought.
3
BYD
China
A battery maker that bought its way into cars with a plant in Xi'an and has grown every badge it sells from the inside since, from the mass-market names up to the million-yuan flagship. Its founder is the controlling shareholder in his own name, so no company sits above the group.
3
Dongfeng
China
A truck works built in the mountains in 1969, whose vehicles the State Council named six years later, and which now puts that name on the cars of several brand lines as well as on lorries. Its premium electric brand was floated in Hong Kong in 2026 and the group's own listed arm was taken private in the same week, which left the unlisted state-owned corporation as the company anyone outside China is pointing at. The joint ventures on its books build other groups' cars.
3
FAW
China
A carmaker that began as the First Automobile Works and is owned by the state through the State Council's assets commission. It runs Hongqi from its own headquarters, builds Bestune through a subsidiary that has taken in outside investors, and holds the majority of its joint venture with Volkswagen, which makes the Jetta brand alongside Volkswagens and Audis.
3
GAC Group
China
GAC's own badges include Trumpchi, which it built a company around two years before it had a car to sell, and Aion and Hyptec, which belong to an electric-car subsidiary that took outside investors in without changing hands. The joint ventures it half owns build Hondas and Toyotas for China. Guangzhou's city government controls the group through an unlisted holding company rather than holding the shares itself.
3
Renault
France
Nationalised in 1945 and privatised in 1996, Renault has no controlling shareholder: the French state is the largest, and Nissan holds shares from an alliance in which each company owns part of the other. Dacia and Alpine were bought as going concerns rather than invented.
3
Tata Motors
India
The badge on the cars sold in India and the owner of Jaguar Land Rover, bought whole from Ford in 2008 and still run out of Coventry. The trucks this company was founded to build were split off into a separately listed company in 2025, leaving the cars behind.
Tata MotorsIN
via Jaguar Land Rover
JaguarGB
Land RoverGB
2
Chery
China
Chery names its brands rather than buying them, and has led Chinese passenger-car exports for more than twenty years. Its holding company handed its shares straight to its own shareholders in 2025, leaving the listed company with no parent at all — Wuhu's state investment arm, where the money started, is now only the largest holder.
2
Ford
the United States
Ford and Lincoln are badges on one company rather than businesses it bought; what Ford actually lists as subsidiaries is finance and factories. The founding family holds a separate class of share that fixes its slice of the vote.
2
Great Wall Motor
China
Pickups and off-roaders first: every name on its stand was invented in Baoding and split out of the parent brand as it grew, rather than bought from anyone. Control runs up through two unlisted holding companies to the chairman, who owns a majority of the one at the top in his own name.
2
Honda
Japan
Nothing on Honda's stand was bought: the premium badge is one it invented for American showrooms, and the motorcycles, generators and business jets alongside the cars all carry the Honda name itself. Only in China does it build cars through joint ventures with local partners.
2
Hyundai
South Korea
Hyundai and Genesis are badges on one Korean company, not businesses it bought. No shareholder controls it: the group's parts maker is its largest holder, and the founding family's grip runs through a ring of cross-holdings rather than a holding company.
2
Mercedes-Benz
Germany
No controlling shareholder at all, and a Chinese minority holder who is also its partner in smart.
2
Nissan
Japan
A Yokohama carmaker no company has ever controlled: Renault rescued it in 1999 and still holds a large stake it can only partly vote, and Nissan in turn is the largest shareholder in Mitsubishi Motors without controlling it. The premium badge was invented for American showrooms.
14
Companies that own one marque
fourteen marques between them