The 50 most valuable carmakers

Tesla combines electric vehicles with batteries, charging and energy-storage products. The cars make the brand immediately recognisable, but home and grid-scale storage connect it to a different set of energy customers. Software and manufacturing are part of both sides of the business.

Its placement in a technology ranking follows the source’s sector definition. The market value still concerns the full listed company, whose activities cross the usual boundaries between automotive production, electrical equipment and software.

Toyota began in the 1930s as the car division of Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, led by Kiichiro Toyoda. It became a separate company in 1937 and is based in Toyota City, Aichi. Its Corolla went on to become the best-selling car of all time.

Today Toyota sells cars under the Toyota, Lexus, Daihatsu and Century brands. It is the world’s largest carmaker, building more than 10 million vehicles a year with its lean Toyota Production System. It has sold hybrids since the first Prius in 1997.

Wang Chuanfu founded BYD in Shenzhen in 1995 to make rechargeable batteries, and it became a major supplier to electronics makers. In 2003 it bought a small carmaker. A plug-in hybrid followed in 2008 and a battery-electric car in 2009.

Today the group is vertically integrated. BYD Auto is the world’s largest maker of plug-in electric vehicles, and the group produces its own batteries through FinDreams. Cars have provided most of its revenue since 2009, and sales have grown sharply since 2020.

Lei Jun and six partners founded Xiaomi in Beijing in 2010, and its first smartphone followed in 2011. It kept prices close to production costs and at first sold only online. Televisions, wearables and smart home appliances came later.

Xiaomi remains one of the world’s three largest smartphone sellers. Its place among carmakers is recent. It launched the SU7 saloon in 2024 and the YU7 SUV in 2025, and it builds its cars at a factory in Beijing.

William C. Durant formed General Motors in 1908 as a holding company for Buick, adding Cadillac in 1909 and, later, Chevrolet. GM was the world’s largest carmaker for 77 years until Toyota overtook it in 2008. The present company emerged in 2009 from a Chapter 11 reorganisation.

Based in Detroit, GM sells vehicles under the Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac brands. Its wider business includes the Chinese joint venture SAIC-GM-Wuling, the OnStar service, ACDelco parts and a car-finance arm.

Enzo Ferrari founded the racing team Scuderia Ferrari in 1929 and set up his own car company in 1939. It moved to Maranello during the Second World War and began building Ferrari road cars in 1947. After decades of Fiat ownership, it became a separate listed company in 2016.

Its range covers sports cars, grand tourers and a single SUV. The brand is built around racing heritage, luxury and exclusivity. Scuderia Ferrari is still the oldest and most successful team in Formula One.

Chung Ju-yung, whose Hyundai business began in construction, founded Hyundai Motor with his brother Chung Se-yung in 1967. It first assembled the Ford Cortina. In 1975 it launched the Pony, the first South Korean car, and it entered the United States in 1986.

Hyundai is based in Seoul, owns about a third of Kia and runs the Genesis luxury brand. Together they form Hyundai Motor Group. Its plant in Ulsan is the world’s largest single integrated car factory.

Henry Ford founded Ford Motor Company in Detroit in 1903. The Model T followed in 1908, and in 1913 Ford introduced the moving assembly line at Highland Park. Its mass-production methods helped make cars affordable to middle-class buyers and became known as Fordism.

Now based in Dearborn, Michigan, Ford sells cars and commercial vehicles under its own name and luxury models under Lincoln. It has been listed since 1956, but the Ford family keeps about 40 per cent of the voting rights.

Soichiro Honda started the business in 1946 by fitting surplus engines to bicycles, and Honda Motor was incorporated in 1948. It became the world’s largest motorcycle maker. Cars followed in 1963, and in 1986 Honda launched Acura, the first dedicated luxury brand from a Japanese carmaker.

Engines connect much of what it sells. Honda makes more internal combustion engines by number than any other manufacturer, for cars, motorcycles, power equipment and boats. Its Super Cub is the most produced motor vehicle in history.

Ferdinand Porsche co-founded Porsche in Stuttgart in 1931 as an engineering consultancy. An early government commission led to the Volkswagen Beetle. After the Second World War his son Ferry built the 356, the first model the company sold, and the 911 followed in 1964.

Porsche AG now builds the 911, Taycan, Panamera, Macan and Cayenne. It is controlled by Volkswagen, which listed part of it in Frankfurt in 2022. Porsche SE, the founding families’ holding company, in turn controls Volkswagen.