The auto industry has a very confusing family tree. The past few years have seen partnerships, sales, separations, bankruptcies, and entire divisions killed off, making it difficult to keep up with who owns which car brands.
As automakers slim down to become more profitable and efficient, a number of changes have been made in recent years. We have seen storied names, such as Hummer, Mercury, and Pontiac, fade away into the history books. We have seen others, such as Chrysler, Jaguar, and Volvo, find new international corporate parents. And some, such as Aston Martin, remain in flux.
To help clear up some of the confusion, we present a basic road map to navigate who owns which car brands among the major automotive companies that sell in the United States. Of course, the list is definitely subject to change.
BMW owns: Mini and Rolls Royce.
Fiat owns: Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Dodge, Ferrari, Jeep, Lancia, Maserati, Ram and SRT.
Ford Motor Company owns: Lincoln and a small stake in Mazda.
General Motors owns: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC. GM owns a controlling interest in Opel and Vauxhall in Europe and Holden in Australia. (The U.S. Treasury Department is in the process of selling off the remaining GM stock holidngs.)
Honda owns: Acura.
Hyundai owns: Kia.
Tata Motors (India) owns: Jaguar and Land Rover.
Mazda mostly independently owned (Ford has small stake)
Mitsubishi is independently owned.
Daimler AG owns: Mercedes-Benz and Smart.
Nissan owns: Infiniti. (Nissan, in turn, is owned by Renault.)
Saab is owned by National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS).
Subaru: Owned by Fuji Heavy Industries with Toyota a minority partner.
Tesla: Toyota is a minority partner. Partnership with Daimler AG.
Toyota Motor Company owns: Lexus, Scion, Daihatsu and Hino Motors, with a stake in Fuji Industries (Subaru’s parent company) and Isuzu.
Volkswagen owns: Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Porsche, and overseas-brands SEAT and Skoda.
Volvo is owned by Chinese-automaker Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, aka Geely.
As you can probably see this is quite confusing and you would be forgiven for thinking you’d brought a car that is actually from someone else.
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