It seems that the car manufacturing world gets more and more convoluted by the day.
We have the likes of Ford owning Volvo Cars, Jaguar, and Aston Martin, and with a stake in Mazda, the Fiesta having some engines with Yamaha cylinder heads, and courtesy of parent Ford, the new V8 engines for the Volvo XC90 and S80 also being Yamaha sourced. We also have a legacy agreement between Volvo and Mitsubishi, which effectively also links Ford to Mitsubishi, an X-Type on a Mondeo floor plan and the new S40 and V50 on the as-yet-to-be-released new Focus floor plan.
That's just scratching the surface of one large car company, and then we have the GM empire, VAG, a tie up between Renault and Nissan........
The one I've just read about though that surprised me was that Peugeot and Fiat are sharing a platform for two new cars, as are Peugeot and Toyota for 2005.
If you're interested, www.psa-peugeot-citroen.com/document/presse_dossie...f, which also highlights a new PSA factory being built in Kolin, Czech Republic. Wonder what the quiet and restrained French unions will have to say about that, as it looks like PSA are about to join what Audi have done for years in Hungary with TT and engine production, and what MG Rover appear keen on doing with the old Polonez factory in Poland.
It looks like the predictions of a few years ago that before long the number of global players would be counted on one hand, with brands little more than marketing tools, is proving correct.
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The petrol engine for the BMW Mini is built by a company in Curtiba, Brasil by a company jointly owned by Daimler and BMW.
It was intended to be used in the new Chrysler Neon as well, although I don\'t know if it was.
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The diesel engine for the MINI is sourced from Toyota.
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Daimler own part of Hyundai, Hyundai own part of Kia, they have an agreement as well about engine development. Hyundai build some products that were designed by Mitsubishi, Kia used to use old Mazda designs.
Proton own Lotus, who do a lot of work for GM-Europe and build
the VX220.
Some Toyota engines are built by Yamaha, Fiat and Ford work together on trucks, Fiat and PSA work together on vans, Ford then work with VW on people carriers.
Who can forget that Rover now get their super-mini/city car from Tata.
It can only get more confusing.
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Can anyone think of a car company that is TOTALLY independently owned?
Javlin
Reliant
Morgan
H
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I know it's not quite in the spirit you intend Hugo, but surely when you get to the "top dog" they are "independently" owned - what about Chrysler Benz (or whatever they are called), Ford, General Motors etc for example? BMW?
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Any car companies listed on the world's various stock exchanges would of course be 'owned' by the shareholders of those companies - pension funds, investment companies, wealthy individuals and, yes, people like us.
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I understand that Bristol cars and that one that makes London black cabs are kind of independant (although they buy some components like engines etc. from the big boys)
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