BMW usurps Toyota as most valuable car brand

BMW has usurped Toyota as the world's most valuable car brand, according to an annual survey commissioned by communications services group WPP.

The BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands survey, which is conducted by research company Millward Brown Optimor and is now in its seventh year, identifies and ranks the world's most valuable brands by their dollar value, an analysis based on financial data, market intelligence and consumer measures of brand equity.

Toyota topped the car sector of the survey in 2011, but its brand value has fallen by ten per cent in the past 12 months, whereas BMW's has risen by the same amount.

The Bavarian manufacturer's rise was aided by record sales growth around the globe, as was fellow German marque Volkswagen, which enjoyed a 15 per cent increase in its brand value and moved into the overall Top 100 of BrandZ's Most Valuable Global Brands.

Hyundai continued its global rise by breaking into the top ten of the survey's car brand sector for the first time.

The report noted that luxury cars may have experienced a negative impact from the rise in car quality overall. Because of generally improved performance, attention to design and the availability of sophisticated technology, factors that usually define luxury were available more broadly and less expensively.

All of the car brands were dwarfed by technology firm Apple, which topped the survey for the second year in succession. Apple's worth was valued at $182.9 billion and technology and communications firms dominate the upper echelons of the list, whereas BMW came in at number 23.

BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Car Brands 2012

1 BMW $24,623m (brand value)

2 Toyota $21,779m

3 Mercedes-Benz $16,111m

4 Honda $12,647m

5 Nissan $9853m

6 Volkswagen $8519m

7 Ford $7025m

8 Audi $4703m

9 Hyundai $3598m

10 Lexus $3392m