The Car Companies Building Brand Empires

Germany-based Volkswagen Group not only places in the top 5 concerning revenue, income and employees, but it's also home to 16 brands and marques. As our chart based on media reports, company statements and Companies Market Cap data shows, not one of the other highest-earning car companies even comes close.

General Motors, which sells motor vehicles under the core brands GMC, Buick, Chevrolet and Cadillac as well as BrightDrop, Baojun and the joint venture SAIC-GM-Wuling, comes in second. The third place is a tie between Toyota and Mercedes-Benz. The former, the only Japanese company in the top 50 publicly traded companies by market cap, markets its cars under the Daihatsu, Hino, Lexus, Ranz and Toyota imprints, while the latter operates mainly under the Mercedes moniker except for its Smart brand.

One major outlier in this top list is Tesla. Not only is it the sole company focusing on battery electric vehicles, but it also only has one brand under its wing. Still, it almost outperformed South Korean car manufacturer Hyundai, which consistently came in third behind Toyota and Volkswagen in terms of production up until 2017.