These eight families control more than 50% of the world's car production

There are more than a hundred car brands around the world. Many are handcrafted or limited-production cars, either more or less affordable, like a Caterham kit, or astronomically expensive, as much as a small-town municipal budget . All of them, small and large, have manufactured more than 79.1 million cars in 2021 .

And of those 79.1 million, 51% were made by just eight families . Yes, the vast majority of the cars we buy and see (about 40.3 million cars in 2021) come from a brand controlled in one way or another by one of these eight families

The vast majority of car brands were founded by a group of people, only a few are the result of a commercial strategy, such as DS or Lexus , for example, or of political will, such as SEAT or Volkswagen . Most brands were once an entrepreneur's dream come true.

However, over time, many of those entrepreneurs or their heirs had to sell their prized brand to a rival manufacturer. With the progressive mergers, acquisitions and IPOs of these large groups, one might think that many are in the hands of investment funds and banks, such as General Motors, but no.

A century after the invention of the automobile, a handful of people control more than half of the world's production. And, eye, here we speak only of the manufacture of cars. We do not include other branches of the business, such as trucks, heavy and agricultural machinery, motorcycles, financing (almost all of them have their own finance company) or the reconditioning and sale of second-hand cars, a sector in which Stellantis is the leader in Europe, with brands such as Aramis or Clicar .

We have also not included families or individuals who own a single brand, such as Tesla

Toyota (Toyota)

The case of the Toyodas is unique in the panorama of the automobile industry. The weight of traditions in Japan is such that although the Toyodas do not have the mathematical majority to run the company, they continue to control that industrial empire.

Shoichiro, the now 97-year-old son of Toyoda's automotive founder Kiichiro Toyoda, and Akio Toyoda ( nicknamed Morizo ), the founder's grandson and current CEO, are believed to jointly own less than 1% of the car's flagship. Toyota group . Akio has 4,752,895 shares, a 0.1% stake. His father had 11,176,193 shares in 2008, the last time his total was made public.

In Japan, the founding family is often seen as a "legitimate" shareholder, explained Zuhair Khan , an expert on Japanese corporate governance, in contrast to professional investors who trade for quick profits.

Shareholders who stick around through thick and thin are considered "real" shareholders, and the founding families are part of those real shareholders. Thus, the minority participation of the Toyodas supposes a pressure that is not felt by the other families that do have a majority of control in other groups, since what they say is listened to and they effectively direct the control of the company.

Toyota is the world 's leading automobile manufacturer since 2008. It owns the Toyota, Daihatsu and Lexus brands. As of 2021, it has produced more than 11 million vehicles , of which almost 10.5 million via Toyota and Daihatsu and another 760,000 cars under the Lexus brand. Toyota Motor Co. is also Subaru's largest shareholder with 20% of its capital . It also owns 5.1% of Mazda (it is its second largest shareholder) and 4.9% of Suzuki Motors.

Porsche-Piech (Volkswagen Group)

It is perhaps the most famous case. The descendants of Ferdinand Porsche , founder of the engineering studio and later car manufacturer Porsche, are the current owners of the Volkswagen Group .

Both the Porsches and the Piëchs (the late Ferdinand Piëch was Ferdinand Porsche's grandson on his mother's side and had 13 children) control the German group via a financial holding company called Porsche SE. Via this holding company they have a third of the capital of the Volkswagen Group and the absolute majority of the voting rights (54%).

With the IPO of Porsche AG (the manufacturer, not the holding company), the heirs of Ferdinand Porsche will have greater control over their ancestor's brand. And it is that the capital of Porsche AG is divided into 50% preferred shares (without voting rights) and 50% ordinary shares (with voting rights).

Thus, the Porsches and Piëchs control the fate of Volkswagen, Audi , SEAT , CUPRA , Skoda, Bentley, Lamborghini, while keeping an eye on Bugatti. And it is that although Rimac Automobili has 55% of Bugatti , Porsche AG owns 45% of the illustrious French brand.

Chung (Hyundai)

Hyundai Motor Group , which includes the Hyundai, Genesis and Kia brands, is one of the world's largest manufacturers. In 2021, it made more than 6.6 million cars (Hyundai and Genesis almost 3.9 million and Kia 2.7 million). But Hyundai's beginnings were much more modest.

Chung Ju-yung , the founder, began repairing trucks for the US Army at the end of World War II. He founded Hyundai in 1947 as Hyundai Engineering and Construction Co.

This became the Hyundai Motor Company in 1967, to separate the automobile business from other lines of business, such as shipyards and heavy machinery. In 1998, Hyundai took control of Kia and in 2007 it launched its luxury brand, Genesis.

Currently, most of the family's fortune is controlled by Hyundai Motor chairman Chung Eui-Sun , the founder's grandson. Before becoming chairman of South Korea's largest auto company, Eui Sun worked at the New York office of Japanese trading company Itochu and was subsequently chairman of Kia from 2005 to 2009, then vice chairman of Hyundai and president from 2020.

Agnelli (Stellantis)

Giovanni Agnelli was one of the original founders of FIAT in 1899 along with other partners. In 1966, Giovanni 'Gianni' Agnelli, grandson of the founder, inherits the FIAT company and its management after a period in which it was managed by Vittorio Valletta, another of the Fiat founders. It is under the reign of 'Gianni' Agnelli that Fiat became the Fiat Group , buying all the major Italian brands except Lamborghini.

Today, whoever controls the destiny of these Italian brands, as well as that of the brands of the former PSA Group, the former Chrysler Group and Opel, are his heirs, with his grandson John Elkann at the head of the family holding company and in which other seven heirs are members of the board of directors.

The family holding company Giovanni Agnelli BV, based in the Netherlands for tax reasons, controls the company Exor NV, also based in the Netherlands, which in turn owns 14.4% of the Stellantis group and as many rights to vote and 36% of the voting rights in Ferrari .

The brands of the Stellantis group are, let us remember, Abarth, Fiat, Lancia, Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Jeep, Chrysler, Dodge, RAM, Peugeot, Citroën, DS and Opel. In total they produce 6.1 million cars .

As a curiosity, Exor also has control of the Iveco Group (42.5% of the voting rights), of the CNH Industrial group specialized in industrial and agricultural machinery (42.5% of the voting rights), as well as the majority of the capital and almost 78% of the votes of Juventus FC of Turin and 24% of the French brand of luxury women's footwear Christian Louboutin.

Peugeot (Stellantis)

The case of the Peugeot is unique. The origins of this dynasty of French industrialists date back to the fifteenth century , a time when they had a mill. It was in 1810 that the family became industrial by converting their water mill into a steel mill. Over time, a whole range of kitchen utensils, cutlery, coffee grinders or watch parts were added to the original tools.

Starting in 1886, Armand Peugeot became interested in the automobile and created his first brand in 1896. At the same time, his nephews Pierre, Robert and Jules began manufacturing bicycles in 1897, before manufacturing their first car in 1906. To avoid internal competition detrimental to production and the family, the two companies merged in 1910.

The Peugeots and their company survived the crisis of 1929 and the Second World War, keeping, according to what they say, a certain resentment against the Porsches and the Piëchs for what happened in the Peugeot factories during the war and that would lead the Porsche 901 to be called 911 Starting in the 1970s, the Peugeot brand was expanding and absorbing Citroën as well as the European subsidiaries of Chrysler, such as Talbot.

Things of destiny, the Peugeots, with Robert Peugeot at the helm, are once again linked with Chrysler by merging their PSA Group with Fiat Chrysler (FCA) and thus creating Stellantis. And although on a day-to-day basis one can have the feeling that the PSA Group has taken over the FCA brands, the reality is that the Agnellis via Exor own 14.4% of Stellantis, while the Peugeot family owns only the 7%.

There is an agreement between the two families in force until January 2028 to keep the positions as they are (it only allows Peugeot to increase its stake by 2.5% before 2028).

Ford

The Fords need no introduction. The industrial giant founded in 1903 by Henry Ford is today the eighth largest manufacturer in the world, with more than 4.2 million units a year. Ford brought mass production to the industry with the 1908 Ford Model T, which dramatically lowered the cost and price of the car.

From the beginning, Ford wanted to export its models, creating factories in Spain ( Cadiz in 1920 and Barcelona in 1923 ), Germany and the United Kingdom. Its global expansion led to the purchase of European brands, such as Aston Martin, Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo. Today, Ford no longer owns those brands and has focused on its two brands, Ford and Lincoln .

Although the Ford Motor Company is no longer owned by the Ford family since the late 1950s, the Fords continue to control the fate of the brand by holding a majority of the voting rights. There are two types of Ford Motor Company shares, Class A and Class B. The latter are the ones that give greater weight to your votes.

The Fords own 40% of the voting rights in the company, with Bill Ford, great-grandson of Henry Ford, being Ford's largest single shareholder. Earlier this year, he bought more Class A shares and increased ownership to 2.3 million shares. He also owns 23% of the class B shares, which gives him great voting power. Bill is also the president of Ford.

In total, descendants of Henry Ford own 71 million Class B shares worth about $1.8 billion. As long as the volume of class B shares remains above about 60.8 million shares , the family will continue to run the company.

Quandt (BMW)

Of this select group of families, the Quandts are the only ones who have nothing to do with the beginnings of the company they own or have participated in its foundation. In fact, they took control of BMW in 1959 .

Herbert Quandt and Harald Quandt inherited their father's industrial empire, forged in Nazi Germany with slave labor and in which Herbert participated as head of the "staff". To find out about the family's Nazi past, the documentary ' The Silence of the Quandts ' is devastating.

Among the 200 companies they inherited were the battery factory AFA (VARTA), 10% of Daimler and a minority stake in a dying BMW.

Herbert Quandt would be in charge of VARTA and the automobile industries. About to sell BMW to Daimler in 1959 , Quandt changes his mind and increases his participation in BMW until he takes control of the brand, owning 50% of the capital.

With the launch of the BMW 700 and in 1962 the BMW 1500 'Neue Klasse', BMW's success has continued to this day. Currently, the BMW Group is in the hands of his sons Stefan (23.7% of the group) and Susanne Klatten (19.2% of the group).

Currently, the BWM Group owns BMW , MINI , Rolls-Royce and Alpina (although it will not take effective control of this until 2025), with factories in Germany, the United States, Mexico and South Africa. In 2021, it manufactured a total of 2.5 million cars.

Li Shufu (Geely)

Li Shufu is the owner and founder of Geely . According to the official story, this son of farmers from the Zhejiang region created his first company at the age of 23 thanks to a loan from his father. That company is Geely and at that time it manufactured spare parts for refrigerators.

In 1989, coinciding with the events of Tiananmen Square, he transferred the company to the local government and went to study engineering. Upon his return, in 1996, he started manufacturing scooters and in 1998, Geely produced his first car.

Just over 20 years later, Geely owns Geely Auto, Geometry, Lynk&Co , Proton, Volvo, Polestar, Zeekr, London Electric Vehicle Company (LECV) and Lotus. This year it has launched a brand of electric cars geared towards off-roading and overlanding, RADAR.

It also controls Smart , (now a Chinese brand headquartered in the Chinese city of Ningbo) and owns a 34.06% stake in Renault Motor Korea (and could very soon have a stake in Renault), as well as Aston Martin, a brand of which he owns 7.60% .

On the other hand, Li Shufu himself (not Geely) owns 9.96% of the Mercedes-Benz Group (the former Daimler), thus being the largest individual shareholder of the German group. By the way, the Chinese BAIC has 9.98% of the Mercedes-Benz group.

The Geely group brands produced a total of 2.2 million cars in 2021. Compared to the rest of the manufacturers on this exclusive list, the Geely brands are not the ones that produce the most, but among them are two brands with world-renowned engineering studios, such as Lotus and Volvo.

And it is that the objective of Li Shufu and Geely is none other than to get the technology that their domestic brands do not have. "Our main objective is to support the growth of the Chinese automobile industry through the growth of Geely to serve our national strategies," he explained on Chinese television.

And that explains why they also enter car sharing services (CaoCao, in Paris, or StarRides in China) and "flying cars" with companies, such as Terrafugia and Volocopter. And of course, neither does he forget his beginnings, since he owns the Italian motorcycle manufacturer Benelli.

Bonus Track: Elon Musk (Tesla)

The case of Elon Musk is a bit peculiar, like everything the character does. Elon Musk is officially one of the founders of Tesla , although in reality it is a bit more complex.

While it is true that the original company was initially founded by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, Elon Musk invested in the company in 2004 and became its largest shareholder, led the financing rounds and developed the company, taking the reins from Tesla in 2008. He basically lifted Tesla up and made it what it is today .

Currently, it owns 4.97% of the capital of Tesla (valued in August 2022 at 41,290 million dollars), with 79.85% in the hands of small investors and 14.22% in the hands of institutional investors, such as banks. and investment funds.

Even so, Elon Musk exercises absolute control over Tesla, both as CEO and as a reference shareholder. It is something he has in common with Akio Toyoda, despite the fact that they both have a diametrically opposite vision of the automobile industry.

Tesla is the world's first manufacturer of 100% electric cars and this year will exceed the barrier of one million cars manufactured for the first time . And it is that in the first three months of 2022, Tesla has already manufactured 929,910 cars , practically reaching the total production of 2021, which was 930,442 cars.