lozgti1

Not really a fan but I reckon Ford.Amazing things over the years

Reckon Honda most efficient above all luxury marks,but,still think Ford done so much over the years

LSherratt

iTrader: (1)

Is there a list of the profits that each car company has made?

Because surely McLaren (for example) wouldn't have made as much profit as Ford (for example) but people would say that McLaren have made much more successful super/hyper cars, therefore people would believe their overall brand is more successful despite making not as much money?

I don't know, I could be totally wrong but I hope you can see what I'm getting at. Very difficult question to answer. Then above that you have the Formula One side of McLaren so would you take all that into account?

Then you have the likes of Ferrari which is another one of the top brands, but compared to the amount of cars sold vs the amount of cars sold from a company such as Vauxhall (for example), what is deemed as successful?

craigybaby

iTrader: (8)

I would say Volkswagon group are the most successful as they are responsible for Audi,seat.skoda,Lamborghini,Bentley,Bugatti,vw aswell as the trucks 'man' and scania

ditchmyster

iTrader: (7)

I'd vote Volvo or Honda, both have their fingers in a fair few pies engine wise.

Scratch volvo, they're owned by ford now.

thenewgalaxy

It's difficult to define success, if you mean total profits to date I believe it's Porsche.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

You are about ten years behind the curve on that :lo1l:


Volvo aren't owned by Ford anymore, they are part Chinese owned now. Ford sold out about four years ago when they ran out of money (roughly the same time when they sold JLR to TATA).

Most sucessful car company though is tricky....as probavbly the best company in terms of balance sheets doesn't make the best or most sucessful car.

Ford (Europe) make good cars, but its balance sheets are pretty bad - they had to co-produce alot of stuff, or borrow technology from its sister companies. They use Peugeot's diesel engines, its Mondeo platform was heavily borrowed from Volvo's (which was also shared in the Freelander 2) and the Ford KA is a Fiat 500/Panda in drag. That IMO doesn't make sucessful company in terms of engineering, or finance, but they do make good cars and they their sale make up a large chunk of the car market

BMW is a lead innovator - but its not mass market. Mini is strugling to widen its market as its runningout of ideas. Financially they are OK, but they have invested heavily into hybrid technologies, so it all depends on how sucessful their upcomming "i" models will be.

Honda are having financial difficulties, and from a technical standpoint they behind behind the curve with innovation; whereas others have being going high-tech, Hondas seem to be getting no more advanced (with the exception of hybrids), dare I say it the Koreans are levelling up with them.

This brings me to Kia...finacially they and Hyundai are probably the most sucessful companies as of now. Cheap, no thrils cars made with equal and better quality than its EU and Japanese counterparts. Boring as hell though and they are followers ( ahem copiers ) of innovation, not leaders.

VW probably is the next - simply becuase it has a finger in every single pie in the motoring sector. It has its high tech innovators (Lambo, Bugatti etc), its low tech/low thrills mass market (Skoda/Seat) and its mid sector (VW/Audi). But most crucially, it has never needed to sell or close down one of its subsidaries - unlike any other motor manufacturing group from British Leyland, GM, Ford, Renault, Mercesdes and BMW etc.

Then there is the French....Most small engined diesel cars have PSA (Peugeot) engines. Fords, Minis, Suzuki, Volvo, Mazda, Fiat and lots lots more have the ubiquitous DV6 engine...love it or hate it this engine is used everywhere. High tech diesel engine...but far from reliable if neglected and used with cheap oils. Same goes for their DV10/12 engine which finds its way in Land Rovers, Mondeos and Jaguars too....However financially they are in a mess...they are part state owned by the French government (which shouldn't be allowed in EU law?) and also had to sell a few billion quid in shares to the Chinese. So sucessful engines....unsucessful company.



So Kia or VAG for me

Brun

VAG are the most successful at leaving the buyers of their cars stranded on the hard shoulder

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

No; that accolade goes firmly to Renault.

Especially Magane IIs.

cookstar

iTrader: (6)

Porsche

Matteeboy

This.
They almost bought VW a while back.

Very profitable business. Too many confuse profit with turnover...

The Trooper 1815

iTrader: (31)

But the deal was fraught with irregularities but par for the course with big businesses.

http://financial-fraud.blogspot.co.u...er-of-all.html

Not sure if this as been settled yet either, but I stand to be corrected.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/da4a38f0-c...44feab7de.html

I must agree with keeping an eye on the Koreans, they are making big strides forward and have some marques looking over their shoulders.

stevebt

iTrader: (8)

I would bet money on it that its Matchbox

billythekid

Which back fired and now VW own THEM!

Expect Porsche to be streaking ahead with profits in the next 5 years too, the new Macan has sold out and waiting lists are 12 to 18 months and growing by the day. They are already upping production to 100,000 cars but still cant keep up with demand.

Lots of talk of smaller engines for the Boxster to sell more units and a revised Panamera is due later this year including hybrid. Not a big seller in the UK but massive everywhere else.

Then there is the new Cayenne which will take the best bits of the Macan and Panamera - should sell hundreds of thousands of units.

IIRC Porsche are about 3 or 4 years ahead of their current business plan in terms of sales and profits!

(spot the fanboy!)

Matteeboy

Weirdly while their success continues, their engine reliability seems to tumble. A shame as a 911 has always been my ultimate "realistic" car but the recent issues have thrown serious doubt into it. Hope they get over it then I can lust after them again.

BULLITT

Erm, have you all forgotten about Toyota? Who have an entire city as well.

It also depends on how you are measuring 'Most Successful' - financially, desirability, world records etc etc

RJM25R

iTrader: (1)

Toyota ARE the biggest, and one of the reasons is their diverse range (porsche sell 7 variants for example, Toyota sell 43 variants) but the main reason is that they're a truly international company selling cars in almost every country in the world.....

Boring fact alert

18% of ALL cars on the road today are toyota's (not that they sell 18% of the worlds cars, rather they are so long-lasting....)

dpb

I reckon its availability / numbers produced as well as japanese laws on old motors

Along with reliability of course...I should think 70% cars in Africa are jap

sti-04!!

Strange as it sounds but front runner just now has to be Nissan. The roads are awash with the Juke & Qashqai models. They just want volume & market share & dont seem to be afraid of pushing the brand.

VAG & BMW are junk. The smaller engine stuff just breaks when you sneeze near it.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

I don't think so, Nissans are Renaults or combinations of and vica versa.

Guess what platform the Juke is made on? Yep, a oversized Renault Clio (or oversized Micra). Which also is shared with a Dacia.

Qashqai? Its a Megane....without the ****.

If Nissan were so sucessful in its own right they wouldn't pilfering engines from Renault and co-developing chassis platforms. They would just buy out Renault and swallow its technology....like VAG do.

Platform sharing and using other maker's engines to me shows a lack of resources. Something the Koreans don't seem to suffer (also Kia and Hyundai share bits with each other)