Who owns who?
GM
Chevrolet
Pontiac
Saturn
Saab
AM General/Hummer
Cadillac
Ford
Ford
Mazda (partial ownership)
Mercury
Lincoln
DaimlerChrysler
Chrysler
Dodge
Mercedes-Benz
Jeep
Mitsubishi (partial investment)
The VW Group
VW
Audi
Lamborghini
Skoda
Bentley
Seat
Bugatti
then theres Toyota/Lexus, Nissan/Infiniti, Honda/Acura - these are companies that make structurally ideantical cars in two different classes.
and then there's BMW, who owns Rolls-Royce.
BMW owns:
-BMW
-Mini
-Rolls Royce
Daimler/Chrysler owns:
-AMC (brand discontinued)
-Chrysler
-Dodge
-Eagle (brand discontinued)
-Hyundai (Daimler/Chrysler only owns 10%)
-Jeep
-Maybach
-Mercedes-Benz
-Mitsubishi (Daimler/Chrysler owns 37%)
-Plymouth (brand discontinued)
-Smart
Fiat owns:
-Alfa Romeo
-Ferrari
-Fiat
-Lancia
-Maserati
Ford owns:
-Aston Martin
-Ford
-Jaguar
-Land Rover (bought from BMW)
-Lincoln
-Mazda (Ford owns 33% of Mazda)
-Mercury
-Volvo cars
Fuji Heavy Industries owns:
-Subaru
General Motors owns:
-Buick
-Cadillac
-Chevrolet
-Daewoo (GM owns 44%)
-Fiat (GM owns ~20%)
-Fuji Heavy Industries (GM owns ~20%)
-GMC
-Holden
-Hummer
-Isuzu (GM only owns a percentage)
-Oldsmobile (brand discontinued)
-Opel
-Pontiac
-Saab
-Saturn
-Subaru (GM owns 20%)
-Suzuki (GM only owns a small percentage)
-Vauxhall
Honda owns:
-Acura
-Honda
Hyundai owns:
-Hyundai
-Kia
Nissan owns:
-Infiniti
-Nissan
-Renault (Nissan owns 15%)
PSA Peugeot Citroen owns:
-Citroen
-Peugeot
Porsche is an independent company (they do work very closely with VW, however)
Renault owns:
-Nissan (Renault owns 44%)
Toyota owns:
-Lexus
-Scion
-Toyota
Volkswagen owns:
-Audi
-Bentley
-Bugatti
-Lamborghini
-SEAT
-Skoda
-Volkswagen
*Side Notes*
GM owns 20% of Fuji Heavy which owns Subaru
Rollys Royce is primarily an independant company that makes its money not from cars but from selling airplane and military technology to people other than the USA
Daimler Chrysler is simply a name, it is truly Daimler Benz. Mercedes bought Daimler Chrysler. So Daimler Chrysler is really German.
Jaguars are not bad because they are made by Ford. If anything Ford turned gas guzzling Jaguars to newer more efficient cars.
GM rented its headquarters from Ford, because Ford owned the building in Downtown Detriot.
So yeah, all the car companies got their hands in one anothers pockets. They all influence each other and I would'nt be dammed if there was one man, or company that owned a good percentage of all the car companies.
One thing to remember, while the divisions of GM and Ford are just that these day, they were outside companies at one time (Lincoln for Ford, Cadillac, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Buick, Opel, etc for GM) that the parent companies bought and completely absorbed.
Honda/Acura, Nissan/Infiniti, and Toyota/Lexus are different in that the upscale brands were invented by the parent companies, and were never separate companies bought and now owned by the parent companies.
This is a fundamental difference. Acura, Infiniti, and Lexus were never actual companies.