this post was submitted on 07 Mar 2025

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Do you want to buy a European car? Here is a comprehensive list of the origins of all brands. (feddit.org)

submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/39361822

European Car Brands and Their Origins

1. Germany

Volkswagen Group (Headquarters: Wolfsburg)
- Brands: VW, Audi, Porsche, Skoda, Seat, Cupra, Bentley, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Ducati (motorcycles)
- Major Shareholders:
  - Porsche SE (Germany, Porsche/Piëch family): ~53.3% of voting rights
  - State of Lower Saxony (Germany): ~20%
  - Qatar (Qatar Holding): ~17%
Mercedes-Benz Group (Headquarters: Stuttgart)
- Brands: Mercedes-Benz, Smart, Maybach
- Major Shareholders:
  - BAIC (China, state-owned automaker): ~10%
  - Geely (China, Li Shufu): ~9.7%
  - Kuwait Investment Authority (Kuwait, sovereign wealth fund): ~6.8%
BMW Group (Headquarters: Munich)
- Brands: BMW, MINI, Rolls-Royce
- Major Shareholders:
  - Quandt family (Germany): ~46.8%
  - Institutional investors (mostly from Europe and the US)
Stellantis (partially German) (Headquarters: Netherlands)
- Brands: Peugeot, Citroën, DS Automobiles, Opel, Vauxhall, Fiat, Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, RAM, Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Lancia
- Major Shareholders:
  - Exor (Agnelli family, Italy): ~14.4%
  - French government (Bpifrance, through PSA acquisition): ~6%
  - Peugeot family (France): ~7%
  - Dongfeng (China, former PSA partner): ~4%

2. USA

General Motors (GM) (Headquarters: Detroit)
- Brands: Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac, Buick
- Major Shareholders:
  - Institutional investors (USA, e.g., BlackRock, Vanguard, Capital Group)
Ford Motor Company (Headquarters: Dearborn)
- Brands: Ford, Lincoln
- Major Shareholders:
  - Ford family (USA, holds special shares with voting control)
  - Institutional investors (BlackRock, Vanguard, State Street, mostly USA-based)
Tesla (Headquarters: Palo Alto, California)
- Brands: Tesla
- Major Shareholders:
  - Elon Musk (South Africa/USA): ~13%
  - Institutional investors (BlackRock, Vanguard, State Street, mostly USA-based)

3. Japan

Toyota Motor Corporation (Headquarters: Toyota City)
- Brands: Toyota, Lexus, Daihatsu, Hino (commercial vehicles)
- Major Shareholders:
  - Japanese banks & insurance companies (Toyota itself, Nippon Life, Sumitomo Mitsui, JP Morgan Japan)
Honda Motor Co. (Headquarters: Tokyo)
- Brands: Honda, Acura
- Major Shareholders:
  - Institutional investors (Japan, Nippon Life, BlackRock Japan, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust)
Nissan Motor Co. (Headquarters: Yokohama)
- Brands: Nissan, Infiniti, Datsun (discontinued)
- Major Shareholders:
  - Renault (France): ~15%
  - Japanese investors (state-owned and private companies, e.g., Japan Trustee Services Bank)
Mazda (Headquarters: Hiroshima)
- Major Shareholders:
  - Toyota (Japan, around 5%)
  - Japanese banks and institutional investors
Subaru Corporation (Headquarters: Tokyo)
- Major Shareholders:
  - Toyota (Japan, around 20%)

4. France

Renault Group (Headquarters: Boulogne-Billancourt)
- Brands: Renault, Dacia, Alpine, Mobilize
- Major Shareholders:
  - French government: ~15%
  - Nissan (Japan): ~15%
  - Institutional investors (mainly from France and Europe)

5. Italy

Ferrari (Headquarters: Maranello)
- Major Shareholders:
  - Exor (Agnelli family, Italy): ~24%
  - Institutional investors (Europe & USA, e.g., BlackRock, Vanguard)
Lamborghini (Part of Volkswagen, Audi subsidiary)

6. South Korea

Hyundai Motor Group (Headquarters: Seoul)
- Brands: Hyundai, Kia, Genesis
- Major Shareholders:
  - Chung family (South Korea, Hyundai founders)
  - Korean banks & sovereign funds

7. China

Geely (Headquarters: Hangzhou)
- Brands: Geely, Volvo, Polestar, Lotus, Zeekr, Lynk & Co
- Major Shareholders:
  - Li Shufu (China, company founder): Majority owner
  - Chinese sovereign funds & banks
BYD (Headquarters: Shenzhen)
- Major Shareholders:
  - Warren Buffett (Berkshire Hathaway, USA): ~8%
  - Chinese institutional investors & banks
Nio, XPeng, Li Auto
- Major Shareholders:
  - Private and state-owned Chinese investors

8. India

Tata Motors (Headquarters: Mumbai)
- Brands: Tata, Jaguar, Land Rover
- Major Shareholders:
  - Tata Sons (India, majority owner)

—

Summary by Ownership Structure

Strong State Influence: Renault, Nissan, Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, Stellantis
Family-Controlled: BMW (Quandt), Volkswagen (Porsche/Piëch), Stellantis (Agnelli/Peugeot), Hyundai (Chung), Ferrari (Agnelli)
Institutional Investor Dominance: GM, Ford, Tesla, Toyota, Honda
Chinese-Controlled: Geely, BYD

—

top 15 comments

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 month ago (4 children)

Jaguar and Land Rover are now Indian.
Bentley, Mini and Rolls-Royce are German.

This must make some Brits really mad!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

To be honest I don't think our automotive industry ever really psychologically recovered from British Leyland

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

They talk about it frequently

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

What hurts more?

Losing it to your colony (a "civilizing th barbarians" one, not a "brits but overseas" one) or to the Hanses?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

TVR still has a UK HQ!

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

This is part of the story. What is more important is where they are built. Toyotas for instance can have engines built in the U.S., transmissions built in Mexico, with the parts assembled in Canada, or it can be completely built in Japan and come in as an import. The details matter in these shitty tariff driven times.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Note for the German brands that are "Family-Controlled" that these families gained most of their wealth and power during the Third Reich, abusing Jewish slave work and selling arms to the Wehrmacht. They managed to keep it in the post war times thanks to the "Denazification" being mostly just on paper and the Western allies looking to quickly rebuild a Western German industry, to prevent Sovjet influence.

BMW, Porsche and Volkswagen are the O.G. Swasticars.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Agreed, but you have to acknowledge that this happened a long time ago. It is good to remember the lineage and call that out, but I’m more worried (for example) about VWs current stance e.g. on Chinese slave labor or the general attitude towards EVs.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Its actually insane how big the VW group is. Currently have a Toyota Yaris Active (company car) and its quite a good car. Looking to get a VW as a next company car but nothing is beating the lease price I got for this Yaris as of yet.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

If price is your chief concern, you can look right away from VW. Not even Škoda is cheap anymore.

You might want to look at something like a Dacia maybe?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

VW E-Up is relatively cheap

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Note: Ignore my entire rant below. The E-up has been replaced by the id.1 in its lineup. We don't know pricing yet because it's planned for 2027. The cheapest VW you can buy is still around 23 grand, but it's a crappy crossover thingy with a dinky petrol engine.

23 fucking grand for a car with no cargo space, no crumple zones and not all that much interior space. It's meant to be driven only in cities - which are the one place where cars are inferior to other modes of transport. The batteries really do make small cars a lot more expensive, because a similarly sized and powered hatchback would've been like 11k from Toyota, which is also a bit more expensive than competitors, a decade ago, just with a petrol engine.

Hell even today, with car prices being what they are, Dacia will sell you a Sandero for under 15 grand. New. THAT is cheap for 2025. 23 grand for a supermini is not.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The E-UP is going for around ~ 10k - ~ 15k since its deprecation. That's what we paid.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

They said company car and lease. That would mean brand new usually.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

They stopped Production in 2023. E-UPs are clearants at this Point.