**The Automotive Industry: A Look at the Top Players**

Bayerische Motoren Werke (BMW) owns Mini as well as Rolls Royce, and I'm pretty sure I butchered that name too. (upbeat music)

Toyota's another company that's got their hands in a bunch of different cookie jars. They took in almost $261 billion last year, with their brands Lexus, Hino Motors, Daihatsu, three more Chinese companies, as well as the defunct Scion brand. They also own a 5.9% stake in Isuzu and 16.6% of Subaru.

And that's how you get nearly identical cars, like the Toyota 86, the Subaru BRZ, and the Scion FR-S. They share a lot of the same parts and are essentially the same car. Surprisingly, Toyota's largest Japanese competitor, Honda, makes about half as much as they do, at $139 billion, with Acura being the only other car badge they own.

**Other Major Players**

Hyundai owns Kia and Genesis and pulls in almost $86 billion a year. The Tata Group, based out of Mumbai, India, pulls in a cool $100 billion in sales through their brands Jaguar, Land Rover, and of course, Tata.

The only Chinese group that makes this list is Geely. The group has been around since 1986 and really only entered the automobile market in 1997, making them one of the newest and most successful car manufacturers to date. This group owns Chinese brands Geely and Lynk as well as Lotus, Volvo, and Proton. They bring in about $15 billion a year in sales.

**Independent Brands**

The only two brands on this list that are independent are Suzuki, based out of Japan, and relative newcomer Tesla. They do about $34 billion and $12 billion in sales respectively. Suzuki has been around for over 100 years, and their profits rely heavily on their motorcycles and ATV sales.

Tesla's business strategy was to sell their high-end, electric cars to a more affluent crowd at first. More expensive vehicles have a much higher profit margin, so less sales are needed to make the money back. Then, when they become more financially stable, they were able to release models that were more affordable to a broader consumer base.

**The Leader: Volkswagen**

Volkswagen is made up of Audi, Porsche, Volkswagen, Bentley, Bugatti, Seat, Skoda, and Lamborghini as well as other smaller subsidiaries. They raked in over $278 billion in 2018 and employ over 630,000 people in 153 countries worldwide. They produced 10,083,000 vehicles last year.

**Conclusion**

Without the help of bigger brands, our favorite rides might not be around at all. A big thanks to Keeps for sponsoring this episode of WheelHouse. Hey, it sucks, but two out of three guys will start losing hair by the time they're 35. That's scary. What doesn't suck is that Keeps hair loss treatments are up to 90% effective at reducing and preventing further hair loss.

You used to have to go to the doctor's office and get a prescription for hair loss medication, but now thanks to Keeps, you can get that same prevention from the comfort of your own home. Getting started with Keeps is super easy. A licensed physician will review your information online and get you what you need from $10 to $35 a month.

Plus, you can use my special link in the description right there, and you'll get your first order of treatment for 40% off, guys that's 40%. That's a lot. Go to keeps.com/wheelhouse, and take care of that wonderful mop of hair today.

Hey, thanks for watching WheelHouse! Hit this yellow subscribe button right here to subscribe to Donut, as well as hitting that like button and little bell button down there so you get notified when we post new videos. We've got OG Donut merch back in the store; buy it. This shirt is actually really comfortable and has a neat little tag yellow tag right there, how cool is that? Be nice; I'll see you next time.

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- Your favorite car company might be ownedby a different car company,and you don't even know it.(upbeat music)Jeep? Owned.Acura? Owned.Chevy? Come on, owned.So the question is, who owns who?Or is it whom?Most every car company nowadaysis owned by a bigger corporation.In fact, only 15corporations around the worldown most of the cars manufactured today.We're seeing fewer and fewerindependent car manufacturers,and that can be both good and bad.Let's start with one ofthe biggest companiesout there, General Motors.Nowadays, they rake in morethan $145 billion annually.But GM wasn't always so successful.They started as a holding company,which, in its simplest form,is a company that buys other companies.Their first acquisitionwas Buick back in 1907.And soon after, they acquired Oldsmobile,Cadillac, and the RapidMotor Vehicle Company,which later became GMC.In 1918, they acquired Chevrolet,a brand that would grow to become one ofGM's biggest breadwinners.It's not just American brands though.GM also owns Chinese manufacturersWuling, Baojun, and Jiefang,Just a disclaimer,there's gonna be a lot more Chinese names,and I'm probably gonna butcher those too.This show ain't vegan causeI'm butchering everything.Uh! That's stupid.Other car companies within the GM familyinclude Holden, Saab, Opel and Daewoo.Of those, only Holden and Opelare still manufacturing cars.And I should note that Opelis no longer owned by GM,but by another group, called PSA.The PSA group is a Frenchmultinational corporationthat owns Opel, Peugeot,Citroen, Vauxhall,and the premium mark DS.They once owned Chrysler Europe,which they bought in 1978 for $1.If given the chance tobuy Chrysler for $1,I'm not sure I would havemade the same decision.PSA makes upwards of $75 billion annually,making them the largest Frenchautomobile manufacturer.But right below them is Renault.(upbeat music)Renault does 58 billion annually,but they're part of a bigger groupnamed theRenault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance,I love the word alliance.Although they're not technically a merger,they kind of operate as one.Renault has a 43% stake in Nissan,Nissan has a 15% stake in Renault,and a 34% stake in Mitsubishi.This umbrella group is theparent company of Infiniti,Datsun, Dacia, AvtoVAZ, Alpina,and the defunct brand Lada.All in all, theRenault-Nissan-Mitsubish Alliancebrings in $190 billion in annual sales,making them the number 3top auto manufacturing groupin the world.So what does this allmean for the consumer?Well, big car companies make it possibleto buy a car for cheap.Right now, you can buy a Nissan Versafor $13,000 brand new.But, it probably cost Nissanhundreds of millions of dollarsto develop the dang thing.A car company that's juststarting to get off the groundcan't afford to sell a car that cost themhundreds of millions ofdollars for that cheap.But Nissan can.The profit margin oneconomy cars is razor thin,but Nissan sells millionsof Versas to make up for it.It's also easier to mass produce partsthat can be installed inmany different models,versus developing acar from the ground up.You've probably heard of a car companygoing to their parts bin, right?One downside of this is that cars canall start looking the same,or at least feeling the same.Using Nissan as an example,the GTR, a $200,000 supercar,might share parts with much,much cheaper cars in their lineup.Chrysler merged with Italiancar manufacturer Fiatback in 2014 to form FiatChrysler Automobiles, or FCA.The merger had beenunderway since Chryslerannounced bankruptcy in April of 2009,but it wasn't finalizeduntil 5 years later.This group is responsiblefor $111 billion dollarsin sales per year,and is made up of manysmaller subsidiaries.Chrysler owns Jeep, Dodge and Ram,but they're also the parentcompany of other defunct brands,such as AMC, Eagle and Plymouth.Fiat owns Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Lancia,and has a 90% stake in Ferrari.(metal music)You know that guy in high schoolwho always had a girlfriend?That's Chrysler.But now he's declaring bankruptcy.But also has a hot Italian wife.Anyway, the name Daimlerhas been around since 1880,but it wasn't until 1926that they merged with Benzto become Daimler Benz,and started producing the Mercedes Marks.As a conglomerate,they're responsible for over$188 billion in annual sales,all across the world.These numbers are getting sobig they're losing meaning.They own Mercedes Benz, Smart,and the now defunct Maybech,along with Chinesecompanies Denza and BAIC.Although they're oftenin the same category,BMW makes around $75billion less than Mercedes,coming in at just under$113 billion a year.Wow, BMW, you suck.Bayerische Motoren Werke ownsMini as well as Rolls Royce,and I'm pretty sure Ibutchered that name too.(upbeat music)Toyota's another companythat's got their handsin a bunch of different cookie jars.They took in almost$261 billion last year,with their brands Lexus, Hino Motors,Daihatsu, three more Chinese companies,as well as the defunct Scion brand.They also own a 5.9% stake in Isuzu,and 16.6% of Suburu.And that's how you getnearly identical cars,like the Toyota 86, the SuburuBRZ, and the Scion FR-S.They share a lot of the same parts,and are essentially the same car.Surprisingly, Toyota's largestJapanese competitor, Honda,makes about half as much asthey do, at $139 billion,with Acura being the onlyother car badge they own.South Korea based Hyundaiowns Kia and Genesis,and pulls in almost $86 billion a year.The Tata Group, basedout of Mumbai, India,pulls in a cool $100 billion in salesthrough their brands Jaguar, Land Rover,and of course, Tata.The only Chinese group thatmakes this list is Geely.The group has been around since 1986,and really only entered theautomobile market in 1997,making them one of the newest,and most successful, carmanufacturers to date.This group owns Chinesebrands Geely ad Lynk,as well as Lotus, Volvo, and Proton.They bring in about $15billion a year in sales.The only two brands on thislist that are independentare Suzuki, based out of Japan,and relative newcomer Tesla.They do about $34 billionand $12 billion in sales respectively.Suzuki has been around for over 100 years,and their profits rely heavilyon their motorcycles and ATV sales.Tesla's only been around since 2003,so how are they able toroll with the big boys?Tesla's business strategy was to selltheir high-end, electric cars,to a more affluent crowd at first.More expensive vehicles havea much higher profit margin,so less sales are neededto make the money back.Then, when they becomemore financially stable,they were able to releasemodels that were more affordableto a broader consumer base.So the sales of higher end modelsbankrolled the RnD for theirpeople's car, the Model 3.Basically, it was theopposite business modelfor Volkswagen, whichhappens to be the number onehighest producing conglomeratein the entire automotive industry.(car tires squeal)The Volkswagen group ismade up of Audi, Porsche,Volkswagen, Bentley, Bugatti,Seat, Skoda and Lamborghini,as well as other smaller subsidiaries.They raked in over $278 billion in 2018,and employ over 630,000 peoplein 153 countries worldwide.They produced 10,083,000vehicles last year.Sure, your favorite brand might be ownedby some bigger, mostlikely more boring brand,but don't let that discourage you.Because without that helping hand,your favorite rides mightnot be around at all.Hey, a big thanks to Keepsfor sponsoring this episode of WheelHouse.Hey, it sucks, but two out of three guyswill start losing hairby the time they're 35.And that's coming up for me.(sad music)That's scary.What doesn't suck is thatKeeps hair loss treatmentsare up to 90% effectiveat reducing and preventingfurther hair loss.You used to have to goto the doctors office,and get a prescriptionfor hair loss medication,but now thanks to Keeps, youcan get that same preventionfrom the comfort of your own home.Getting started with Keeps is super easy.A licensed physician willreview your information online,and get you what you needfrom 10 to 35 bucks a month.Plus, you can use my special linkin the description right there,and you'll get yourfirst order of treatmentfor 40% off, guys that's 40%.That's a lot.Go to keeps.com/wheelhouse,that's k-e-e-p-s.com/wheelhouse,and take care of thatwonderful mop of hair today.Hey, thanks for watching WheelHouse,hit this yellow subscribebutton right here,to subscribe to Donut,as well as hitting that like button,and little bell button downthere so you get notifiedwhen we post new videos.I know it's a lot to ask of you,but it actually really helps us out.We've got OG Donut merchback in the store, buy it.This shirt is actually really comfortable,and has a neat little tagyellow tag right there,how cool is that? Be nice,I'll see you next time.