Me and a buddy were disaggreeing on whether or not Porsche, BMW, Audi and Vw were all part of the same parent company. so what is it?
Were also trying to figure out all of the Parent companies and their "children" i.e.
Ford- Mercury, Licncoln, Volvo, Merkur (anymore?)

GM-Chevy, pontiac, cadillac, buick, saab, subaru, saturn?, holden,(anymore?)

Daimler Chrysler (who's the parent Daimler or Chrysler)- dodge, jeep, mitsubishi?,

what other parent companys are there?

 

Ford - Aston Martin, Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Jaguar
BMW - BMW, Rolls Royce, Mini
Fiat - Fiat, Ferrari
VW - Audi, VW, Bentley, Laborghini, Bugatti, Porsche
GM - Pontiac, Saturn, Saab, Cadillac, AM General (Hummer), Holden, part of Subaru, part of Fiat, Chevy, i think they also own Seat (a spanish brand)
Diamler Chrysler / Diamler Benz - Mercedes Benz, Dodge, Jeep, Maybach, Chrysler, Smart

who has peugot? i think its either GM or Fiat, right?

then ofcourse we have your standard jap brands:
Honda - Honda, Acura
Toyota - Scion, Toyota, Lexus
Nissan - Nissan, Infiniti

Edit: theres tons of partnerships too, GM and Honda work together on some engine and tranny things, GM owns part of Fiat, and just all kinds of part sharing goin on. Subaru is really an independant but GM owns a portion of them. and if you ask about the korean brands i think Hyundai owns Kia.

 

VW > *

 

I think Mazda and Ford are still affiliated, no?

 

Ford also has mazda and Landrover

 

I think Mitsubishi and Hyundai are wrapped up in the chrysler circle somehow.
GM: Chevy, Sabb, Saturn, Am General, Cadillac, Pontiac, Buick, Oldsmobile, GMC, Holden....I only did again because I think Italian left out a few

 

Don't forget Opel!

 

i thought porsche was independednt but just heavily collaborated w/vw, not owned by them?

 

GM is also Vauxhall in the UK and Opel in Germany, and owns significant portions of Fiat, Suzuki and Izusu (as well as Subaru/Fuji Heavy Industry already mentioned).

 

Suzuki and Isuzu are the two I could not think of, didn't know the others

 

I think you are right. The VW group doesn't really control them but Germany's financial structure is different than the U.S. Their banks own a large part of corporations and I bet VW and Porsche are somehow in the same financial circles.

Also, Renault owns Nissan and Infiniti

 

Wrong on Porsche, they are independent. That's why they came out with the Cayenne, to boost profits so they can stay an independent company. The Cayenne/Touareg design sharing is just a deal between Porsche and VW.

 

also dont forget that ford owns volvo as well

 

this would make quite the diagram of ownerships and collaborations.

Any one want to tackle this one?

 

One of the car mags had this all listed out in one of their previous issues. I'll see if i can find it...

 

You forgot a few and made a mistake.

Porsche and VW are seperate entities, BUT they do collaborate on A LOT of things. For example, my oil filter on one of my VWs has a "VW symbol, AUDI rings, and Porsche Crest."

Also, add Seat and Skoda to the list.

 

GM now owns Daewoo.

Renault owns Samsung Motors.


And no, VW does NOT own Porsche. They do have parternship deals, but neither owns the other.

Ford owns Volvo passenger vehicle department, but GM owns the truck division (semi's) if I remember right. I seem to recall that Volvo was split into two ownerships. Not 100% sure, though.

Don't forget that Ferrari now owns Maserati (Ferrari Maserati Gruppo).

GM also did a transmission deal with BMW. The tranny in the 5-series (the previous one, I don't know the new one) came from GM.

 

Daimler Chrysler owns something like a 35% stake in Mitsubishi and refers to them as a "strategic partner" rather than one of their underlying brands like MB, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, etc.
Hyundai also has this relationship, although I don't know what degree of ownership Daimler has over them.

 

I thought Lambo was Chrysler?

 

Fiat- Ferrari & Maserati.

 

Yep, but there has always been a tie between the companys. Porsche had a similiar partnership on the early 70's 914 with vw.

Ferdinand Piech (married Dr. Porsche's daughter) left Porsche in 1972 when Porsche was privatized (and the Porsche family gave up its day-to-day control of the company) to go over to Audi (he was instrumental in the Quattro development).

People often confuse these business relationships with the companies being the same entities.

 

After looking at this thread again we should try to name the current active car companies that are truly independent. That might be tougher.

Lotus
TVR
Daihatsu
Peugeot/Citroën

what others?

I was going to say MG, but I'm sure they're part of Rover which is now part of BMW.

(BTW -- fun thread)

 

Volvo also has a boat division and I think GM might make trains,, this list cold go on forever also I work for a Major defense contractor and I get x plan (employee sales) on Fords, GMs, Chysler's... go figure ??? they consider me a employee because we make sub-systems for them,,

 

Slimey --

Bristol is another truly independent company, the last one in England.

Lotus is not independent. I can't remember right now who owns it, but I know it's not independent.

 

Izusu once had a development partnership with Lotus (remember the Izusu Impulse with the Lotus suspension?), but I think Lotus is independent.

Here's a snippet from a recent news article. No mention of being owned by someone else.

 

Used to be. The ever failing Lamboghini brand has been tossed around like a prostitute in Vegas. Chysler sold it to some company in Indonesia way back after the Diablo debut, after that I lost track.

So it is not a coincidence that Chysler is making the ME Four now and VW has the W12. Both concepts more than likely derived from owning Lamborghini for short periods of time.

 

i couldnt think of any other euro brands like opel and skoda. GM has their hands in almost everything.

i thought daewoo dissolved?

i also forgot land rover and mazda with ford. BMW used to own land rover but sold it to ford a few years back, but a stipulation of the sale was that the new Range Rover would be BMW designed and built, so does this suprise anyone else that its the nicest made of their models?

is there any truth to the lamborghini/enzo ferrari fued that stemmed from lamborghini being started by a tractor guy in italy and after he bought a ferrari and was unimpressed by the product so he decided to diversify to cars.

 

I see the loop tightening between domestics even further...as GM is in the process, as we speak, of developing a 6 speed auto for the new big Fords.

Was in this months Motor Trend.

 

I thought GM bought Lotus back in the 80's

 

ford has a 6 speed auto, its in the newer jags if im not mistaken. its going in the new 500 and SUVs right?

 

So let me see if I got this right so far-

The big boys and their little brothers:
GM: Pontiac, Saturn, Saab, Cadillac, AM General (Hummer), Olds, Daewoo, Holden, GMC, Buick, part of Subaru, part of Fiat, Chevy, Opel, Vauxhall, Suzuki, Isuzu and possibly Seat & Lotus

Ford: Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Volvo, Astin Martin, Jaguar, Mazda, Land Rover

Daimler Chrysler: Benz, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Mitsubishi, Maybach, Smart, Hyundai, Kia

BMW: BMW, Mini, Rolls Royce
VW: Audi, VW, Bentley, Laborghini, Bugatti

Renualt: Nissan, Infiniti
Independents: Porsche, TVR, Peugeot, Citroën and Possibly Lotus

I am undoubtedly missing some but at least I have a foundation. Hopefully that Car mag with the real breakdown can be found and settle all of this.

 

Toyota is still Toyota (Scion, and Lexus) and not owned by another corporation, but has had joint ventures with GM.

Honda is still Honda (and Acura) and not owned by another corporation, but has had joint ventures with GM.

There's also a difference between a brand division (Lincoln to Ford, or Opel to GM) as opposed to being a business partner. For instance, Subaru is not owned by GM. GM is just a major shareholder in Fuji Heavy Industry. Only recently has a Subaru platform been transferred to another GM subsidiary (Saab). I think GM's relationship to Fiat is the same -- they're major shareholders, but not real owners.

 

Just to keep you straight, Seat and Skoda are now VW subsidiaries.

 

Thanks, that helps. I haven't been to spain in a long time but the Seats were crappy back then. Usually the best cars on the road were the Euro versions of the Escorts and the Peugot 405's