- Your favorite car company might be owned
by a different car company,
and you don't even know it.
(upbeat music)
Jeep? Owned.
Acura? Owned.
Chevy? Come on, owned.
So the question is, who owns who?
Or is it whom?
Most every car company nowadays
is owned by a bigger corporation.
In fact, only 15 corporations around the world
own most of the cars manufactured today.
We're seeing fewer and fewer independent car manufacturers,
and that can be both good and bad.
Let's start with one of the biggest companies
out there, General Motors.
Nowadays, they rake in more than $145 billion annually.
But GM wasn't always so successful.
They started as a holding company,
which, in its simplest form,
is a company that buys other companies.
Their first acquisition was Buick back in 1907.
And soon after, they acquired Oldsmobile,
Cadillac, and the Rapid Motor Vehicle Company,
which later became GMC.
In 1918, they acquired Chevrolet,
a brand that would grow to become one of
GM's biggest breadwinners.
It's not just American brands though.
GM also owns Chinese manufacturers
Wuling, Baojun, and Jiefang,
Just a disclaimer,
there's gonna be a lot more Chinese names,
and I'm probably gonna butcher those too.
This show ain't vegan cause I'm butchering everything.
Uh! That's stupid.
Other car companies within the GM family
include Holden, Saab, Opel and Daewoo.
Of those, only Holden and Opel are still manufacturing cars.
And I should note that Opel is no longer owned by GM,
but by another group, called PSA.
The PSA group is a French multinational corporation
that owns Opel, Peugeot, Citroen, Vauxhall,
and the premium mark DS.
They once owned Chrysler Europe,
which they bought in 1978 for $1.
If given the chance to buy Chrysler for $1,
I'm not sure I would have made the same decision.
PSA makes upwards of $75 billion annually,
making them the largest French automobile manufacturer.
But right below them is Renault.
(upbeat music)
Renault does 58 billion annually,
but they're part of a bigger group
named the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance,
I love the word alliance.
Although they're not technically a merger,
they kind of operate as one.
Renault has a 43% stake in Nissan,
Nissan has a 15% stake in Renault,
and a 34% stake in Mitsubishi.
This umbrella group is the parent company of Infiniti,
Datsun, Dacia, AvtoVAZ, Alpina, and the defunct brand Lada.
All in all, the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubish Alliance
brings in $190 billion in annual sales,
making them the number 3 top auto manufacturing group
in the world.
So what does this all mean for the consumer?
Well, big car companies make it possible
to buy a car for cheap.
Right now, you can buy a Nissan Versa
for $13,000 brand new.
But, it probably cost Nissan
hundreds of millions of dollars to develop the dang thing.
A car company that's just starting to get off the ground
can't afford to sell a car that cost them
hundreds of millions of dollars for that cheap.
But Nissan can.
The profit margin on economy cars is razor thin,
but Nissan sells millions of Versas to make up for it.
It's also easier to mass produce parts
that can be installed in many different models,
versus developing a car from the ground up.
You've probably heard of a car company
going to their parts bin, right?
One downside of this is that cars can
all start looking the same,
or at least feeling the same.
Using Nissan as an example,
the GTR, a $200,000 supercar, might share parts with much,
much cheaper cars in their lineup.
Chrysler merged with Italian car manufacturer Fiat
back in 2014 to form Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, or FCA.
The merger had been underway since Chrysler
announced bankruptcy in April of 2009,
but it wasn't finalized until 5 years later.
This group is responsible for $111 billion dollars
in sales per year,
and is made up of many smaller subsidiaries.
Chrysler owns Jeep, Dodge and Ram,
but they're also the parent company of other defunct brands,
such as AMC, Eagle and Plymouth.
Fiat owns Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Lancia,
and has a 90% stake in Ferrari.
(metal music)
You know that guy in high school
who always had a girlfriend?
That's Chrysler.
But now he's declaring bankruptcy.
But also has a hot Italian wife.
Anyway, the name Daimler has been around since 1880,
but it wasn't until 1926 that they merged with Benz
to become Daimler Benz,
and started producing the Mercedes Marks.
As a conglomerate,
they're responsible for over $188 billion in annual sales,
all across the world.
These numbers are getting so big they're losing meaning.
They own Mercedes Benz, Smart, and the now defunct Maybech,
along with Chinese companies Denza and BAIC.
Although they're often in the same category,
BMW makes around $75 billion less than Mercedes,
coming in at just under $113 billion a year.
Wow, BMW, you suck.
Bayerische Motoren Werke owns Mini as well as Rolls Royce,
and I'm pretty sure I butchered that name too.
(upbeat music)
Toyota's another company that's got their hands
in a bunch of different cookie jars.
They took in almost $261 billion last year,
with their brands Lexus, Hino Motors,
Daihatsu, three more Chinese companies,
as well as the defunct Scion brand.
They also own a 5.9% stake in Isuzu,
and 16.6% of Suburu.
And that's how you get nearly identical cars,
like the Toyota 86, the Suburu BRZ, and the Scion FR-S.
They share a lot of the same parts,
and are essentially the same car.
Surprisingly, Toyota's largest Japanese competitor, Honda,
makes about half as much as they do, at $139 billion,
with Acura being the only other car badge they own.
South Korea based Hyundai owns Kia and Genesis,
and pulls in almost $86 billion a year.
The Tata Group, based out of Mumbai, India,
pulls in a cool $100 billion in sales
through their brands Jaguar, Land Rover,
and of course, Tata.
The only Chinese group that makes this list is Geely.
The group has been around since 1986,
and really only entered the automobile market in 1997,
making them one of the newest,
and most successful, car manufacturers to date.
This group owns Chinese brands Geely ad Lynk,
as well as Lotus, Volvo, and Proton.
They bring in about $15 billion a year in sales.
The only two brands on this list that are independent
are Suzuki, based out of Japan,
and relative newcomer Tesla.
They do about $34 billion
and $12 billion in sales respectively.
Suzuki has been around for over 100 years,
and their profits rely heavily
on their motorcycles and ATV sales.
Tesla's only been around since 2003,
so how are they able to roll with the big boys?
Tesla's business strategy was to sell
their high-end, electric cars,
to a more affluent crowd at first.
More expensive vehicles have a much higher profit margin,
so less sales are needed to make the money back.
Then, when they become more financially stable,
they were able to release models that were more affordable
to a broader consumer base.
So the sales of higher end models
bankrolled the RnD for their people's car, the Model 3.
Basically, it was the opposite business model
for Volkswagen, which happens to be the number one
highest producing conglomerate
in the entire automotive industry.
(car tires squeal)
The Volkswagen group is made up of Audi, Porsche,
Volkswagen, Bentley, Bugatti, Seat, Skoda and Lamborghini,
as well as other smaller subsidiaries.
They raked in over $278 billion in 2018,
and employ over 630,000 people in 153 countries worldwide.
They produced 10,083,000 vehicles last year.
Sure, your favorite brand might be owned
by some bigger, most likely more boring brand,
but don't let that discourage you.
Because without that helping hand,
your favorite rides might not be around at all.
Hey, a big thanks to Keeps
for sponsoring this episode of WheelHouse.
Hey, it sucks, but two out of three guys
will start losing hair by the time they're 35.
And that's coming up for me.
(sad music)
That's scary.
What doesn't suck is that Keeps hair loss treatments
are up to 90% effective
at reducing and preventing further hair loss.
You used to have to go to the doctors office,
and get a prescription for hair loss medication,
but now thanks to Keeps, you can get that same prevention
from the comfort of your own home.
Getting started with Keeps is super easy.
A licensed physician will review your information online,
and get you what you need from 10 to 35 bucks a month.
Plus, you can use my special link
in the description right there,
and you'll get your first order of treatment
for 40% off, guys that's 40%.
That's a lot.
Go to keeps.com/wheelhouse,
that's k-e-e-p-s.com/wheelhouse,
and take care of that wonderful mop of hair today.
Hey, thanks for watching WheelHouse,
hit this yellow subscribe button right here,
to subscribe to Donut,
as well as hitting that like button,
and little bell button down there so you get notified
when we post new videos.
I know it's a lot to ask of you,
but it actually really helps us out.
We've got OG Donut merch back in the store, buy it.
This shirt is actually really comfortable,
and has a neat little tag yellow tag right there,
how cool is that? Be nice, I'll see you next time.