Top Global Car Brands 2012: Toyota, Mercedes, BMW, VW, Honda, Ford & Hyundai

Interbrand has released its 2012 Top Global Brands rankings for 2012 with Toyota, Mercedes, BMW, VW and Honda the top four car brands.

Last year, when we had the 2011 Top Global Brands revealed, Toyota managed to come at the top despite a year beset with the woes of the Tsunami. And for 2012, Toyota has hung on to its top automotive brand gong with a brand value of $30.28 billion.

Close behind Toyota comes Mercedes with a brand value of $30.097 billion with BMW coming in third with a $29.052 billion – the same 1,2,3 as last year.

In fourth place comes Honda ($17.28 billion) with VW arriving in fifth ($9.252 billion) and Ford in sixth ($7.95 billion), again the same rankings as 2011. But in seventh place with a valuation for the brand of $7.473 billion – and usurping Audi – comes Hyundai, up from eighth place last year.

Interbrand said of this year’s Automotive Global Brand Rankings:

From an acquisition perspective, Volkswagen stands out in 2011 and 2012. The German multinational took over MAN Trucks, Porsche, and Ducati to complete its range throughout all segments.
Mercedes-Benz has revamped their car designs to achieve a more dynamic look, which represents a genuine advance from a brand perspective.
Additionally, Hyundai took a tremendous step forward in the quality vector. Thanks to YouTube, the whole world now knows that Volkswagen’s CEO, Martin Winterkorn became aware of Hyundai’s quality surge at IAA 2011 (i.e., “Nothing rattles here”), and the impression reflects reality: in representative surveys, Hyundai has been getting top scores for quality and dependability during the past two years. Perhaps, then, it’s no surprise that Hyundai is one of the fastest growing automotive brands in the world.

High praise for Hyundai (and Hyundai’s sister company, Kia, hit the Top Brand list with a valuation of $4.089 billion too) and mention of the story we ran last year when VW’s Martin Winterkorn got the hump with the new Hyundai i30.