Toyota tops brand worth rankings

AUDI and Ford have emerged the biggest automotive winner and loser respectively in the latest survey of global brand values co-released by branding consultancy Interbrand and New York-based publication BusinessWeek.

While Ford slipped a big 12 per cent down the rakings to lie in fifth place behind survey leaders Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Honda, Audi made the most upward progress to place seventh – an 11 per cent improvement year-on-year.

Volkswagen was sixth (up eight per cent), while filling out the top ten were Hyundai and Porsche in eighth and ninth places respectively (both with a nine per cent improvement) and Lexus (up seven per cent).

According to Interbrand and BusinessWeek, Mercedes-Benz and BMW also lifted their global brand worth by nine per cent to $US25.6 and $US23.3 billion respectively – well behind Toyota but ahead of fourth-placed Honda.

Toyota topped the car-making brands among the top 100 brands ranked globally because it was deemed to have a global brand value of $US34 billion. It placed sixth overall in the top 100 listing – up six per cent on last year’s result.

Eighth-placed car-maker and 72nd-placed overall, Hyundai was delighted with its best result since debuting on the Best Global Brands list in 2005.

Hyundai said its largest gains in brand value were experienced in India, Korea and emerging markets like Russia and Brazil, where it yesterday announced it will open a $US600 million plant – its seventh outside Korea – to produce a new ethanol-powered small car from early 2011.

“Our investment into continuous quality improvement has provided us with the momentum we need to grow the Hyundai brand globally,” said Hyundai’s vice-chairman and CEO Dong-Jin Kim.

“Perceptions of the Hyundai brand among new car buyers have been transformed as a result of dramatic improvements in the quality and styling of Hyundai vehicles. This, in turn, has fuelled a steady increase in sales and confidence in the brand among both customers and dealers,” said Hyundai in a press release issued yesterday.

“Since shifting its focus from quantitative growth to the pursuit of qualitative growth, brand management has become a top priority. Brand management considerations now influence decision-making at all levels of the organisation, from styling and marketing to communications, retail and after-sales service,” said Hyundai.

2008 Best Global Brands:
Auto rank	Brand	Brand value($USb)	Change	Top 100rank
1	Toyota	34.0	+6%	6
2	Mercedes-Benz	25.6	+9%	11
3	BMW	23.3	+9%	13
4	Honda	19.1	+6%	19
5	Ford	7.9	-12%	49
6	Volkswagen	7.0	+8%	53
7	Audi	5.4	+11%	67
8	Hyundai	4.8	+9%	72
9	Porsche	4.6	+9%	75
10	Lexus	3.6	+7%	90
11	Ferrari	3.5	-	93