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The leading US business magazine Fortune has just published its latest Fortune Global 500 for 2018.
This annual survey looks at the world’s largest companies, as measured by their annual sales revenue in US dollars. We’ve taken a look at the list, and used it to identify the world’s largest car firms and where they sit within the planet's 500 biggest companies.
We also take a look at how they’ve been doing: the sales and profit numbers are for 2018, the rankings state the respective companies place in the overall Fortune 500, and the sales and profits percentage changes are from 2017's figures. After a strong 2017 for most car firms, 2018 was distinctly trickier for many of them - let's take a look:
Slideshow story - click the right-hand arrow above to proceed
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440: Subaru – JAPAN - $28.5bn sales (7.3% fall) - $1.3bn profit (33% fall)
Subaru is famous the world over for its rugged saloons and hatchbacks. While something of a marginal player in Europe, it has been startlingly successful in the US market, nearly doubling market share from 2.1% in 2009 to 3.92% in 2018. With total US sales of 680,135 vehicles in 2018, it outsold Volkswagen and Mazda combined.
However, recalls of the Forester (pictured), Crosstrek and Impreza contributed to profits falling 33% from 2017. Subaru recently announced it will co-develop a new Electric Vehicle (EV) platform with Toyota, that will first spawn an SUV.
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389: Mazda – JAPAN - $32.2bn sales (2.5% rise) - $572m profit (43.4% fall)
Mazda saw a healthy rise in sales in 2018 thanks in part to a push upmarket. However, as a result of costly investment in its US dealer network, profits have taken a 43.4% dive from 2017.
Hope lies with a new US plant in Alabama, shared with Toyota, to bring global market share up from 1.7% to 2%, by virtue of a new crossover to be produced in 2021. It's also joining the Subaru-Toyota programme on EVs.
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357: Suzuki – JAPAN - $34.9bn sales (3% rise) - $1.6bn profit (17.2% fall)
Often associated with plucky, affordable small cars in Europe, it is in fact the Ertiga (pictured) MPV that’s proving a big sales hit for Suzuki.
Producing this top-selling MPV in India contributed to a 3.0% bump in sales from 2017, but profits were down in part down to heavy investment in future electric vehicles. Like Mazda and Subaru, Suzuki is also cooperating with Toyota on EVs.
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265: Tata Motors – INDIA - $43.6bn sales (4.9% fall) - $4.1bn loss (395.6% fall)
Tata Motors is perhaps best known for its ownership of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), which provides 90% of its revenue. JLR is facing four primary headwinds at present that sent the overall group into loss in 2018: 1. The decline of diesel which was a popular choice for its larger vehicles. 2. The China market, where Land Rover sales dipped 34%, a result exacerbated by widespread recalls denting brand confidence. 3. The cost of investment in new ranges of electric vehicles (EVs). 4. Brexit: JLR makes most of its cars in the UK, and there is widespread uncertainty over the future trading relationship with the EU.
“A bad Brexit deal would cost Jaguar Land Rover more than £1.2bn profit each year”, said JLR CEO Ralf Speth recently. Recently JLR announced that it will work with BMW on new EV platforms, and sources suggested to us that the German company may even supply conventional engines and vehicle platforms to JLR, too.
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227: Kia – SOUTH KOREA - $49.2bn sales (4% rise) - $1.1bn profit (22.7% rise)
Kia’s sales were largely stable year-on-year, but higher average sale prices from new or facelifted models like the Sorento (pictured) SUV boosted profits.
With a global unit market share of 3.08%, a 50% increase from 2008, Kia has now slipped ahead of Mercedes-Benz and Renault; those firms are only higher in the list because they sell for higher average prices, and that they have major commercial vehicle arms too.
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220: Geely – CHINA - $49.7bn sales (20.6% rise) - $2.0bn profit (8.2% rise)
Geely bought Volvo in 2010. Since then, investment from Geely has allowed the brand to modernise its range while maintaining its identity, proving very effective for the Swedish marque.
Having not been profitable for a decade under Ford, Volvo saw record sales of 642,253 cars in 2018, an increase of 172% from 2008, and representing 43% of total Geely group unit sales. Meanwhile, Geely-branded vehicles saw sales rise 10.4% in China, fuelled by the success of its Boyue SUV (pictured).
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189: GAC – CHINA - $55.0bn sales (9.4% rise) - $885m profit (10.5% fall)
The sixth largest carmaker in China, GAC has seen its joint ventures with other marques deliver in terms of sales. Sales of rebranded Mitsubishi, Honda and Toyota cars in China increased by an overall 5.5%, though profits dipped 10.5%, a result of purchase tax changes.
GAC plans to launch its Trumpchi brand in the US in 2020, pioneered by the new GS8 SUV (pictured), though its similarity with the name of the US president may represent a barrier.
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143: Renault – FRANCE - $67.8bn sales (2.3% rise) - $3.9bn profit (32.4% rise)
In Europe, Renault holds the lion’s share of the fast-expanding EV market at 22%, and in 2018 Renault EV sales themselves increased by 37% worldwide. Global sales of the affordable Dacia sub-brand jumped 7%, too, making up 678,717 of the group’s 3.9 million sales worldwide.
In November 2018, Renault’s longtime CEO Carlos Ghosn was arrested in Japan on corruption charges, which he denies. This has put a question mark over its alliance with Nissan and Mitsubishi, which Ghosn championed. Renault announced a plan to merge with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in May, but the plan was rapidly dropped after opposition from the French government, Renault’s single-largest shareholder.
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129: BAIC – CHINA - $72.7bn sales (4.4% rise) - $1.1bn profit (29.4% fall)
Like GAC, BAIC has major joint ventures with other large manufacturers, in its case Mercedes-Benz and Hyundai. In 2018, Mercedes and BAIC invested $1.7 billion to expand local production of Mercedes models under Beijing-Benz, but this hit profits. The company’s EV push is looking to improve matters; its EC series (pictured) is comfortably the best-selling EV in China with a 9% market share.
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96: Peugeot – France - $87.4bn sales (18.9% rise from 2017) - $3.3bn profit (53% rise from 2017)
A new premium design direction and striking SUVs like the 5008 (pictured) has seen the Peugeot brand flourish, with sales up 5% on the year in Europe; subsidiary Citroën also saw sales rise in the region. The company was also boosted by its newly acquired Vauxhall/Opel unit, which saw a profit after two decades of losses under previous owner General Motors (GM).
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94: Hyundai – SOUTH KOREA - $88.0bn sales (18.9% rise) - $1.37bn profit (61.6% fall)
Hyundai’s rise in sales comes as the company produces a range of solid offerings, but profits fell off the back of a diplomatic row that resulted in labour strikes, as well as a stronger Korean currency reducing foreign earnings when translated back into the company’s home currency.
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87: FAW – CHINA - $89.8bn sales (29.2% rise) - $2.66bn profit (6.8% fall)
First Automobile Works is one of the four largest car manufacturers in China, and it saw a beefy 29.2% rise in sales in 2018. The firm is state owned and famous for producing prestigious vehicles to ferry around state officials, becoming a symbol of national pride.
FAW also has joint ventures with foreign manufacturers, most notably with Volkswagen. FAW produces various Volkswagen models in China (pictured), selling more than two million cars as a result of this venture, up by 2.6% year-on-year.
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82: Dongfeng Motor – CHINA - $90.9bn sales (2.5% rise from 2017) - $1.60bn profit (14.3% rise from 2017)
Dongfeng is another major Chinese player in the global top 100, and another that makes extensive use of partnerships. Cars sold through joint ventures make up over half of overall sales, and although a dominant force in China, Dongfeng aims to more than double sales overseas from 65,000 today to 150,000 cars in 2020. It's aiming to become a much bigger player in EVs, too.
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66: Nissan – JAPAN - $104.4bn sales (3.2% fall from 2017) - $2.88bn profit (57.4% fall from 2017)
One of the top three Japanese manufacturers in this list, Nissan is responsible for a variety of car types, from rugged pick-ups to sports cars. Despite this, unit sales have shown relatively little growth in recent years. Substantial costs of developing autonomous driving tech and EVs have seen profits take a significant hit, as did a strong Yen.
As already mentioned, Carlos Ghosn (pictured), who was the CEO of Nissan as well as Renault, was arrested at the end of 2018 on corruption charges, which he denies. As a result, Nissan’s 20-year-old alliance with Renault is widely seen as under major strain at present.
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53: BMW – GERMANY - $115.0bn sales (3.4% rise) - $8.40bn profit (13.6% fall)
BMW is one of the ‘big three’ German manufacturers and also owners of Mini and Rolls-Royce. In 2018, BMW car sales increased for the eighth consecutive year, despite Mini sales dropping by 2.7%. Sales of electric Mini and BMW products increased by 38.4% to 142,617 cars globally.
A decline in profits can be attributed to the US-China trade spat, as well as new WLTP emissions standards hampering supply to European markets. It recently unveiled plans to cooperate with Jaguar Land Rover on new EV technologies, and Autocar believes the tie-up may go further than that, too; BMW owned Land Rover between 1994 and 2000.
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39: SAIC Motor – CHINA - $136.4bn sales (5.9% rise) - $5.44bn profit (6.9% rise)
SAIC sells cars under well-known names such as MG, but also profits from joint ventures with the likes of GM and Volkswagen. Its Roewe brand saw a 24% rise in China sales in 2018, while MG sales in China rocketed to 312,000 units, a 132% increase, off the back of demand for its ZS compact SUV (pictured).
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34: Honda – JAPAN - $143.3bn sales (3.4% rise) – $5.50bn profit (42.4% fall)
Both Honda unit sales and overall revenue was up year-on-year, boosted by China unit sales growing 2.5% offsetting a small decline in America. The hefty fall in profits was down to unfavourable exchange rates and income tax expenses. It’s looking to greatly boost its EV output, starting with the well-received E model (pictured). It's cooperating with GM on autonomous vehicles.
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32: General Motors – USA - $147.0bn sales (6.5% fall) - $8.01bn profit (8.3% fall)
General Motors is the fifth largest car firm on this list. In the US, GM leads with a 16.9% market share - more than Nissan and Honda combined. A fall in sales was a result of weaker demand for new cars in North America across all brands – higher material costs stemming from the US/China trade war have hit profits too.
GM has recently announced a plan to drop six car models by the end of 2019 to focus on pickups, EVs, and SUVs like the new Blazer (pictured). As mentioned, GM is working with Honda on autonomous technology.
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30: Ford – USA - $160.3bn sales (2.3% rise) - $3.68bn profit (51.6% fall)
Ford was affected by year-on-year declines in sales in China and Europe, while CEO Jim Hackett says the US/China trade dispute cost the firm $1 billion because of tariffs on steel and aluminium. This contributed to a significant fall in profits, as did a $299m cost for a recall of cars with defective airbags.
Like GM, Ford has recently announced a large-scale retreat from the passenger car market in the US to focus its attention on its profitable F-Series range of pickups (F-150 pictured), and SUVs. Over the past year Ford has entered into a wide-ranging alliance with Volkswagen, working together on commercial vehicles, EVs, and autonomous technology.
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18: Daimler – GERMANY - $197.5bn sales (6.6% rise) - $8.56bn profit (27.9% fall)
Daimler-owned Mercedes-Benz sold 2.3 million cars in 2018, more than any other year in its history – it takes third place here as a result. Mercedes was in fact the best-selling premium brand of 2018, selling 8.7% more cars than BMW as a result of a fresh line-up of cars in a widening group of classes, such as the new A-Class.
Even long-time laggard Smart also saw one of its strongest years ever, with 128,808 cars sold. However, a 27.9% slip in profits leaves Daimler with the task of cutting costs and improving manufacturing efficiency. Daimler’s revenue and profit figures also includes the company’s large range of commercial vehicles of all shapes and sizes. Daimler is cooperating with longtime rival BMW in autonomous driving technology, and car sharing.
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10: Toyota – JAPAN - $272.6bn sales (2.8% rise) - $16.98bn profit (24.6% fall)
Toyota was the market-share leader in the global passenger car market in 2018, with 9.5%. 2018 saw the sale of their two-millionth hybrid vehicle in Europe, in a time of turmoil for diesel equivalents.
Profits have taken a 24.6% hit from 2017 – a recall of the Prius for a faulty electrical system has been a factor, as well as costly customer incentives in the US to help drive up sales in that market. As already mentioned, Toyota is working with Subaru, Mazda and Suzuki in building a new EV platform.
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9: Volkswagen – GERMANY - $278.3bn sales (7.0% rise) - $14.32bn profit (9.3% rise)
And the world’s largest car firm by sales revenue is… Volkswagen. This was achieved despite a number of obstacles, not least the echoes of the 2015 diesel emissions scandal that has seen some its senior managers put in jail, and costing the firm $4.3 billion in penalties in 2017. An SUV-offensive, including new T-Roc, T-Cross (pictured) and Tiguan models took advantage of current trends, as did the electric e-Golf, which saw a 45% increase in sales from 2017.
Volkswagen is the only brand in the top six of the list to see a rise in profit in 2018, as the group as a whole sold a record 10.8 million vehicles, which also includes commercial vehicles, including heavy trucks from MAN and Scania. Audi sold 1.8 million of the group total, while Skoda sold a record 1.2 million cars. As mentioned, Volkswagen is cooperating with Ford in a range of areas including commercial vehicles, EVs, and autonomous tech.
Editor's Note:
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles: For the purposes of the Fortune Global 500, FCA’s entry is consolidated within the wider Exor Group, whose annual sales in 2018 amounted to $175 billion, where it ranks 24th in the Fortune Global 500.
Additional research by Yousuf Ashraf
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