Toyota No. 1; VW makes biggest gain in ranking of most valuable car brands

Toyota kept its title as the world's most valuable car brand in a year in which only three automakers finished in the top 100 global brand list, down from five in 2018 and six in 2017.

After Toyota, only Mercedes-Benz and BMW were ranked in the BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands 2019 study by market researcher Kantar Millward Brown. Ford and Honda dropped out after making the top 100 in 2018.

Toyota has been No. 1 in 12 of the 14 years the study has been carried out. In the years it wasn’t No. 1, 2010 and 2012, it finished in second place.

“Global reach is such a big part of Toyota’s position. In each area it’s got a good representative model mix,” Graham Staplehurst, Global BrandZ Strategy Director, told Automotive News Europe. “Toyota is also seen as pioneer for alternative energy. People are aware of the Prius. We have done a couple of surveys on electric cars, and although Tesla came out on top, Toyota came in second and then VW.”