Toyota most valuable global auto brand

According to the annual report from Interband on the value of global brands, Japan’s Toyota remains the most valuable as far as the automotive industry is concerned and finishing sixth overall, two positions higher than in 2014.

Japan’s Toyota, for years also the world’s largest automaker in terms of sales (they lost the crown after the first six months of the year to Germany’s Volkswagen) has finished in the sixth position this year after placing eighth in 2014.

The Japanese automobile brands were ranked behind Apple, Google, Coca-Cola, Microsoft and IBM and has lead the surge for some automotive brands that markedly improved their results compared to last year.

Nissan was the top growing auto brand in this respect, with the brand value jumping 19 percent to a new total of more than 9 billion dollars, also surging from the 56th overall position to the 49th in the survey’s results for 2015. For Toyota this was the fourth consecutive year of placing among the top ten brand of the world regardless of industry – its brand value surging 16 percent from 2014 to a little over 49 billion dollars.

Meanwhile, the German automotive giant Volkswagen AG has taken a step back from the placement seen last year, dropping nine percent to 12.5 billion dollars and now placing 35th among global brands.

Good news come from the BMW brand surging nine percent to 37.21 billion dollars and placing behind Toyota in terms of the automotive industry but only finishing 11th overall. Mercedes-Benz is as ever the closest contender, coming with a seven percent improvement to place 12th overall.

Honda which is counted not just for its automobiles but also for motorcycles, outboard motors and various power tools, comes fourth among auto brands, placing 19th on the overall leader board.

It would be recalled that in 2014, the world’s largest carmaker in terms of sales was closely followed by two of the biggest premium automakers globally namely Mercedes-Benz and BMW. During the period, the brands that topped the ranking overall were Apple, Google and Coca-Cola.

They kept their respective places from 2013 and Toyota is slowly moving up the ranks, reaching No. 8 position in 2014, up two positions year-over-year. The Japaense nameplate has kept its place of most valuable auto brand in Interbrand’s listing since 2004.

The 2014 edition which was the 15th annual ranking by Interbrand, a division of advertising conglomerate Omnicom Group, included in its listing 13 automotive companies – the same as in 2013. Land Rover entered for the first time in the rankings at No. 91 last year, while Ferrari (98th in 2013) has been written off.

MIKE OCHONMA