4. Ford (USA)
Ford Motor Company was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. Presently, it is world’s fourth largest car maker with 2,145,000 units of global sales. It should be noted however that Ford does have a popular range of vans and other non passenger vehicles. In 2007, Ford fell from second to third-ranked car maker for the first time in 56 years, behind only General Motors and Toyota. As of 2008, Ford has become the second largest automaker in Europe (only behind Volkswagen), with sales that occasionally exceed those in the United States and large markets in Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom. Ford is the seventh-ranked overall American-based company in the 2008 Fortune 500 list, based on global revenues in 2008 of $146.3 billion.
3. Volkswagen (Germany)
At third on the list is German business Volkswagen group with a total of 6,517,288 cars rolling off the production line. A large proportion of these cars are likely to be from the ‘Golf’ range. Volkswagen is second-largest market is China, where its subsidiary, Volkswagen Group China (VGC), is by far the largest joint venture automaker, selling more than one million vehicles in 2008. The Volkswagen Group constitutes the car brands like Audi AG, Automobili Lamborghini Holding S.p.A., Bentley Motors Ltd., SEAT, Skoda Auto and heavy goods vehicle manufacturer Scania AB. Recently, Porsche has united with the Volkswagen Group. It also holds the proud of parenting Bugatti Automobiles SAS which produces one of the world’s fastest car ‘Bugatti Veyron‘. The German luxury car company was founded on May 28, 1937 under the leadership of Adolf Hitler. Adolf Hitler wanted a “people’s car”. Volkswagen literally means ‘people’s car’ in German.
2. General Motors (USA)
By sales, General Motors ranked as the largest U.S. automaker and the world’s second largest. General Motors had the third highest global revenues among automakers on the Fortune Global 500. Amongst GM’s more famous brands worldwide are Cadillac and Chevrolet. General Motors was established in 1908 by William C. Durant. GM was world’s number one car company for consecutive 77 years from 1931 to 2007. Because of the economic conditions, the car giant went bankrupt on June 1, 2009. On 10th July 2009, the company emerged from “Chapter 11 bankruptcy” reorganization. While no GM shares are currently available to the public, the company plans an initial public stock offering (IPO) in 2010.
1. Toyota (Japan)
Japanese car maker Toyota Motor Corporation is the world’s largest car manufacturer. It manufactures about 9,237,780 units per year. The widest produced model is likely to be ‘Corolla’ which is one of the most popular and best selling cars in the world. The Japanese giant has been severely affected by the 2007-2009 financial crises with a loss of US$4.4 billion. The company was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda in 1937 as a spinoff from his father’s company Toyota Industries to create automobiles. In 1934, it created its first product, the Type A engine, while still a department of Toyota Industries. It manufactured its first passenger car the Toyota AA in 1936. Toyota also owns and operates Lexus and Scion brands and has a majority shareholding stake in Daihatsu and Hino Motors, and minority shareholdings in Fuji Heavy Industries, Isuzu Motors, Yamaha Motors, and Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation.