The carmakers with the largest number of brand-names

Over 100 years ago, previously separate car manufacturers had already started to clump together within the same organisations.

That process has continued, and it is now rare to find any brand which is not related, in a business sense, to at least one other. Here is the current state of play, starting with the smallest groups and ending with the largest. Only brands which produce vehicles for domestic use are included in our figures, though some groups also produce other forms of transport.

PICTURE: Dodge Charger SRT

Bugatti Rimac: 2

The original Bugatti company was in operation from 1909 to 1963, and has been revived twice since then. Until very recently, it was part of the Volkswagen Group, but it in 2021 it merged with Rimac, which builds high-performance electric sports cars.

Porsche and Hyundai are minor shareholders in the new company. Its headquarters are in Croatia, but Bugattis will continue to be built in their traditional home of Molsheim, France.

PICTURE: Rimac Nevera and Bugatti Chiron

BYD: 2

Chinese manufacturers are, on the whole, enthusiastic about creating lots of related car brands. BYD is unusual in that it has only two. Created by a company originally set up to produce rechargeable batteries, BYD Auto specialises, as you might imagine, in hybrid and fully electric vehicles, including saloons, hatchbacks, MPVs and SUVs.

While these are all mainstream products, BYD also makes more luxurious electric vehicles. The brand name for these is Denza, which was founded in 2010 as a joint venture with Daimler.

PICTURE: BYD Quin

Daimler: 2

Daimler owns many vehicle brands, but most of them produce trucks, buses and vans. The two related to passenger vehicles are Mercedes-Benz and smart. Luxury brand Maybach was discontinued in 2012, but the name was later re-used for the Mercedes-Maybach sub-brand.

The British Daimler company, founded in the late 19th century, was a name occasionally used for Jaguar derivatives until 2007. It is currently owned by Tata Motors.

PICTURE: Mercedes-Maybach S-Class

Ford: 2

In its long history, Ford has manufactured vehicles under over a dozen brands. Five of them - Aston Martin, Jaguar, Land Rover, Lincoln and Volvo - were at one time part of its Premier Automotive Group, but most of them have been sold on.

Lincoln is the only one still owned by the company, and one of only two brands it currently operates alongside Ford itself. Until very recently, there were three, but Troller, an off-road vehicle specialist acquired by Ford of Brazil in 2007, was shut down in 2021.

PICTURE: Ford Fiesta

Honda: 2

In sharp contrast to their Chinese counterparts, Japanese manufacturers generally choose a brand name early on and stick with it for ever, no matter what type of vehicle they build. Honda is the most extreme example. It builds cars, motorcycles and aeroplanes, but all of them are sold as Hondas.

The only exception - and the reason Honda appears on this list at all - is Acura, the luxury and performance car division formed in 1986 and aimed at the North American markets. As we'll see, two rival Japanese companies liked the idea and decided to use it themselves.

PICTURE: Acura RDX

SAIPA: 2

SAIPA and Pars Khodro were both founded in Iran in the 1960s, and remained separate until the turn of the century. SAIPA then bought a controlling interest in Pars Khodro, creating a two-brand organisation which still exists today.

As is common in Iran, both brands have licences to build cars originally designed by European, Chinese or Japanese manufacturers, but there are occasional exceptions such as the SAIPA 701 Caravan MPV.

PICTURE: SAIPA Shahin

Toyota: 2

Known in its earliest years as Toyoda (after its founder), Toyota has used its own name for untold millions of cars produced since the 1930s. The Lexus brand was created in the 1980s, initially to produce luxury cars, though it subsequently diversified into high-performance and more mainstream models.

A third brand, Scion, arrived in 2003. Aimed at younger customers in the US, it lasted until 2016. Scion models were then either discontinued or rebranded as Toyotas.

PICTURE: Toyota Mirai

BMW: 3

In the second half of the 1990s, BMW owned the Rover Group, and was therefore in charge of several current and dormant British brands such as Land Rover and Riley.

The only visible sign of this today is BMW's ownership of modern-era MINI, which began producing cars in 2000. Two years earlier, BMW acquired Rolls-Royce, the most prestigious of its three brands. Recent Rolls-Royce models have shared technology with the BMW 7-Series. BMW still also retains the Riley and Triumph (for cars) brands among others.

PICTURE: BMW 330e Touring

JAC: 3

Little known in the western world, JAC produces cars under three brand names: Jiayue, Refine and Sehol. The first two are wholly owned by JAC. Sehol (formerly Sol) was created as a joint venture between the Chinese company and Volkswagen. JAC also owned a brand called Heyue, but this has been discontinued.

PICTURE: Refine IV

Nissan: 3

Like its Japanese rivals Toyota and Honda, Nissan created a luxury car division in the late 1980s. Infiniti is still going, but it has been withdrawn from European and other markets. The company was originally called Datsun. The brand continued even after the company changed its name to Nissan in 1934, but was eventually dropped in favour of Nissan.

Recently, however, Datsun has returned as a budget brand, and is active in the Indian market. Its redi-Go city car is based on the same platform as the low-cost Renault Kwid.

PICTURE: Nissan Micra

Tata Motors: 3

Tata Motors bought Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford in 2008. Through the parent Tata Group, the products of the two brands (which retain separate identities though they have been merged into the same company) are therefore related in business terms to Tetley teabags and the Taj hotel chain.

As part of the same deal, Tata also acquired three more historic British brands - Daimler, Lanchester and Rover - but these are currently dormant. Tata builds relatively low-cost vehicles (some of them electric) in its home country of India. It also owns Tata Daewoo and Tata Hispano, but since these manufacture trucks and buses respectively, they don't count qualify for anything more than a brief mention in this article.

PICTURE: 2022 Range Rover

Brilliance: 4

Shenyang-based Brilliance was founded in 1992, and currently manufactures passenger cars and crossovers under its own name. A rapid expansion in the mid 2010s saw the introduction of three more brands - Jinbei, SWM and Huasong. In its current form, Jinbei is a joint venture created by Brilliance and Renault, with Brilliance as the majority shareholder.

PICTURE: Brilliance V7

Hyundai: 4

The Hyundai Group produces cars under its own name, and has held a controlling interest in Kia since the turn of the century. Two more brands have recently been added. Ioniq, originally no more than a model name, is now a brand in its own right, building electric vehicles.

Similarly, Genesis was once the name of a specific model, but it is now Hyundai's luxury division - effectively the South Korean equivalent of Acura, Infiniti and Lexus.

PICTURE: Hyundai i30N

SAIC: 4

SAIC Motor, formerly the Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation, is best known in the UK as the current owner of the long-standing British marque, MG. It also owns Roewe, a name concocted after SAIC was unable to acquire the rights to Rover.

SAIC also owns Maxus, the current version of the former LDV Group, previously known as Leyland DAF. It now produces SUVs and MPVs in addition to commercial vehicles. The fourth SAIC brand is IM. The first IM model, named the L7, is a luxury electric saloon scheduled to go on sale in 2022.

PICTURE: MG ZS EV

Fujian: 5

Of Fujian's five brands, Soueast is the one which produces the greatest variety of conventional passenger cars. Keyton specialises in MPVs, while the recently established Yudo concentrates on electric vehicles.

Higer and King Long are predominantly commercial vehicle brands, but they also produce MPVs, while Higer also builds pickup trucks suitable for family use. On top of all that, Fujian also builds Daimler and Mitsubishi models for the Chinese market.

PICTURE: Soueast A5

GAC: 5 (or perhaps 4)

Not including joint ventures with foreign companies, the Guangzhou Automobile Group Company currently operates five brands, four of which currently seem secure. Trumpchi and Gonow produce conventionally-powered cars, crossovers, SUVs and MPVs. The Aion marque is devoted entirely to electric vehicles of various sizes. Other battery-powered vehicles are produced by Hycan, a joint venture between GAC and electric car specialist NIO.

Through its subsidiary Changfeng, GAC has also produced Leopaard vehicles - mostly SUVs and crossovers - with great success. However, Changfeng's Hunan Leopaard Motors has declared bankruptcy, and its future is uncertain.

PICTURE: Trumpchi GS8

Great Wall: 5

Great Wall's quiet withdrawal from European markets does not alter the fact that it's still a very successful manufacturer of own-brand pickups and SUVs in China. Other SUVs are sold under the brand names Haval and Wey, the latter being similar to the surname of Great Wall's wealthy Chairman, Wei Jianjun (born 1964).

Both of these have been created in the last ten years, as have Tank, which builds large off-roaders, and Ora, which has a completely contrasting portfolio of electric vehicles.

PICTURE: Great Wall Steed

Renault: 5

Along with many other business interests, Renault sells cars under its own name, and also owns four other brands. Two of these have long-standing connections with the company. Dacia started out building Renaults under licence in Romania, while Alpine originally built its own sports cars using Renault running gear.

It is also the major shareholder in the South Korean company, Renault Samsung Motors, and began buying shares in AvtoVAZ (which builds Ladas) in 2008. Lada and Dacia were brought together in a business unit formed in January 2021.

PICTURE: Renault Clio

Chery: 6

Chery builds cars under it own brand name, and five others: Cowin, Exeed, Karry, Jetour and Qoros. Karry specialises in commercial vehicles, but it's included here because its portfolio also includes MPVs.

Qoros hit the headlines in 2013 when the Qoros 3 became the first Chinese car ever to be awarded the maximum safety rating of five stars by EuroNCAP.

PICTURE: Exeed TX

Dongfeng: 6 (or maybe 9)

Determining the number of Dongfeng brands is a surprisingly complicated process. We're going with six, because Aeolus (formerly Fengshen), Fengdu, Fengguang, Skio (mostly electric vehicles), Sokon and Venucia are all distinct from each other.

However, the Dongfeng Liuzhou Motor subsidiary has three model names - Fengxing, Jingyi and Lingzhi - which all apply to several different vehicles. For example, the Fengxing T5 compact crossover is definitely not the same thing as the Fengxing F600 MPV. If you treat those three as separate brands, the Dongfeng total rises to nine.

PICTURE: Aeolus D53

General Motors: 6

In its early years, GM took over almost every car company it could lay its hands on. It has been in control of over 40 automotive brands, from the very familiar (Oldsmobile, Opel, Pontiac and Vauxhall) to the almost forgotten (Acadian, Cartercar, Elmore and Scripps-Booth).

Today, it operates only six. Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC are everyday names in North America, and Buick is also notably successful in China. Speaking of China, the General is also involved in a joint venture there called SAIC-GM-Wuling, which produces several types of vehicle under the Baojun and Wuling brands.

PICTURE: Chevrolet Bolt EUV

Changan: 7

Changan Automobile's own brands are Changan itself, Kuayue, Oshan, Raesor (or Ruixing) and the recently established electric car subsidiary Avatr. Along with Aiways and Jiangling, Changan is also a shareholder in a joint venture which produces JMC, Yusheng and Landwind vehicles.

Additionally, and like other Chinese companies, Changan is involved in joint ventures with foreign companies to build their models locally - in this case Ford and Mazda - though as usual we're not counting those.

PICTURE: Changan Alsvin

FAW: 7

FAW stands for First Automobile Works, which is appropriate because its Dongfeng CA71 (nothing to do with the current Dongfeng company) was China's first passenger car.

It also built the second, the Hongqi CA72. The Hongqi brand is still going, mostly producing larger vehicles, and is listed on FAW's website along with Bestune, Junpai and Senia. However, FAW also has other automotive brands in its current portfolio, namely Haima, Jiabao and SiTech. Still more have been discontinued in recent years.

PICTURE: Hongqi HS5

BAIC: 9

BAIC Group, also known as Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Company, currently has six car-producing subsidiaries, none of which will be familiar to most westerners. Arcfox concentrates on electric vehicles, while more conventional models are manufactured by the BAW, Beijing, Changhe, Foton and Ruili brands.

Another brand, Senova, was created as a result of BAIC acquiring Saab's intellectual property rights. The name has been discontinued, but later Senova models are still being sold with Beijing badges. BAIC also owns the Bisu, Huansu and Weiwang brands as part of a joint venture with Yinxiang Group (which counts here) and has similar arrangements with Daimler and Hyundai to build cars locally under licence (which doesn't).

PICTURE: Arcfox Alpha-T

Volkswagen: 10

The recent sale of Bugatti has brought the number of active car brands in the VW Group perilously close to single figures. The seven most familiar are Audi, Bentley, Lamborghini, Porsche, SEAT, Skoda and Volkswagen itself.

In addition, Ruf builds Porsche derivatives and is accepted as a brand in its own right, Jetta, while still used as a model name, is now also a separate marque operating in China, and Cupra is the recently established performance arm of SEAT. Volkswagen also owns Auto Union, DKW, Horch, NSU and Wanderer. These have all been dormant for many years, but they could be brought back, though this seems unlikely. It has been speculated in the past that the wider group could be renamed Auto Union in order to differentiate it from the Volkswagen brand name.

PICTURE: Volkswagen Golf eHybrid

Geely: 12

Geely first came to western attention when it bought Volvo in 2010. This led to the formation of the upmarket Lynk & Co, and to Polestar becoming a standalone brand rather than, as before, Volvo's performance division.

In recent years, Geely has also become the owner of two dramatically different British companies, Lotus and the London Electric Vehicle Company (formerly the London Taxi Company), and has just short of a 50% stake in Malaysia's Proton. Back home in China, Geely produces cars under its own name, and is also responsible for the Farizon, Geometry, Maple, Zeekr and Zhidou brands.

PICTURE: Volvo V90

Stellantis: 15

Like General Motors more than a century earlier, Stellantis was founded as an umbrella organisation for several existing car companies. The process began in 2017, when the PSA Group, owners of Citroen, DS and Peugeot, took over GM Europe, which consisted of Opel and Vauxhall. Four years later, this group then came together with the previously merged Fiat Chrysler, which added Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Fiat Commercial (which builds pickup trucks among other things), Jeep, Lancia, Maserati and Ram.

That makes 15 brands, but it might have been more. Fiat sold Ferrari onto the New York Stock Exchange in 2016, while PSA attempted to buy Proton (which at the time owned Lotus) a year later, but lost out to Geely. In addition to the large array of its operating brands, Stellantis remains owner of a huge catalogue of brands from deceased car firms, including DeSoto, Talbot, Simca, Sunbeam, Hillman and Humber.

PICTURE: Fiat 500