Most Valuable Car Brand is Toyota … Again

This year’s most valuable car brand is the same as last year’s most valuable car brand. It’s none other than Toyota, according to recently released data from marketing consultant Millward Brown Optimor in their “Millward Brown Optimor BrandZ Top 10 Most Valuable Car Brands” list. This is quite an achievement in an industry as fickle as the automotive business!

Notably, nine of the 10 top brands from last year’s list remained the same. The one exception was the departure of Toyota’s sister company, Lexus, which was replaced by Chevrolet. This is Chevy’s first appearance on the list since 2009. 

Most Valuable Car Brand Top 4 Unchanged

The top four were unchanged in rank from 2013. In addition to Toyota ($29.6 billion), the top four included BMW ($25.7 billion); Mercedes-Benz ($21.5 billion); and Honda ($14.1 billion).

Ford jumped to fifth at ($11.8 billion), and rounding out the top 10 were Nissan ($11.1 billion); Volkswagen ($8.4 billion); Audi ($7.1 billion); Chevrolet ($4.9 billion); and Hyundai ($4.6 billion).

How did Millward Brown calculate this value? They used a formula that was based on financial data the views of potential and current customers.

Biggest Gains & Losses Year-Over-Year

Who made the biggest gains from 2013 to 2014? At the top of this list is Chevrolet, who muscled its way back into the top 10 by virtue of a whopping 56-percent gain. Audi was runner-up at 27 percent, followed by Toyota (21%), Mercedes-Benz (20%) and Hyundai (15%).

Out of all the brands that made the list, only Volkswagen did not increase in value from the 2013 study. This is the case for a couple reasons: first, sales were down approximately 10 percent through April, including a United States sales slump. Additionally, the brand is facing Chinese pressure to lower prices in that country.

In an industry where brand perception is such an important factor, it’s always a good thing for any brand to appear on this list.