Page 31 - BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands 2014

Section 03 | The Categories
Consumer and Retail | Cars

Cars

Sales approach pre-crisis

levels, but overcapacity

hurts margins

US, Europe and China experience growth

The brand value of the car category Chevrolet sold almost ive million vehicles

improved 17 percent after a 5 percent last year, a record, with a sale of 1.9
lift a year ago. Car sales accelerated 8 million in the US, followed by 650,000 in
percent in the US to 15.6 million units, China and around the same number in
and are expected to reach pre-crisis Brazil and under 200,000 in Mexico and
sales levels this year. Western Europe in Russia. The Cruze small car was

continued to improve, although Chevrolet’s top seller worldwide.
discounts weakened margins. Sales
advanced sharply in China but declined These midmarket models were loaded
in the other BRICs.
with the latest technology, as technology
became almost a hygiene factor rather
Overcapacity remained the chief than an expression of luxury.

concern, affecting proits in the US and
Europe. Although some capacity was In luxury, both BMW and Mercedes
removed during the recession, it exceeds experienced a strong year, with car
demand, leaving the industry with excess models that resonated with buyers.
inventory and perpetual discounting
The stock market reacted positively to

by dealers, which erodes margins, sales results. Audi remained the best-
cheapens brand equity and limits
selling luxury brand in China. Hyundai,
capital for future investment.
which offers its premium brand Genesis
in South Korea and the US, planned to
Consumer preference has moved toward introduce it in Europe. These other

utility-looking vehicles, smaller, crossover trends emerged:
Top 10 Cars
SUVs built on car frames. These types of
cars are the sweet spot in most of the Technology Consumers expected cars
world with the exception of Brazil and loaded with technology, regardless of
India where car size is smaller. The trend price point. Conditioned by rapid Brand
Brand Value
results in part from smaller family size as smartphone apps, they also expected Value Brand
% Change
2014 $M Contribution 2014 vs 2013
boomers becoming empty nesters.
car technology to improve with the
1 Toyota 29,598 3 speed of downloads.
21%
Unlike in some other categories where
2 BMW 25,730 4 consumers gravitated to the value and Safety Safety remained an overriding 7%
premium options, abandoning the broad concern. A key reason people trade in
3 Mercedes-Benz 21,535 4 20%
17%
middle, the mid-market brands came cars after the third year of ownership
4 Honda 14,085 3 back strongly in the car category.
is to upgrade to new safety features. 14%
Ford Luxury brands are moving beyond
5 11,812 3 Toyota sold almost 10 million cars, crash survival to crash avoidance.
56%
6 Nissan 11,104 3 making it the largest carmaker in total 9%

7 Volkswagen 8,403 3 units for the second consecutive year, Trust GM conducted two large recalls -4%
followed closely by GM and Volkswagen. and apologized for its slow response
8 Audi 7,058 5 Exports, and a weakened yen, drove to a critical safety problem, promising 27%
Toyota’s growth.
a transparent investigation. Toyota
9 Chevrolet 4,917 3 accepted a $1.2 billion ine from
New

10 Hyundai 4,615 2
Ford enjoyed one of its most proitable US regulators for misleading 15%
years ever, with record proits in North consumers during its 2009 stuck
America and Asia, and strong results in accelerator crisis.
Source: Valuations include data from BrandZM and Bloomberg.
Deinition
the weaker economies of South America Brand contribution measures the inluence of brand alone on earnings, on a scale of 1 to 5, 5 highest.
and Europe. Ford re-entered the
The car category includes mass BrandZM Top 100 Most Valuable

market and luxury cars but Global Brands. Its brand value
excludes trucks. Each car brand increased 56 percent.
includes all models marketed
under the brand name.

60 BrandZM Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands 2014
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