Latest in Automakers

About Automakers

A few dozen companies build almost all of the world's cars, and their fortunes shape everything from what sits in showrooms to how many people work in Michigan, Bavaria, Aichi or Guangdong. Toyota and Volkswagen Group trade the title of world's biggest automaker by volume; General Motors, Ford, Stellantis, Hyundai-Kia, Honda, Nissan, BMW and Mercedes-Benz fill out the established ranks; and Tesla and BYD lead the electric generation that has upended the old order.

Each company has its own personality and its own crises. Toyota's patient hybrid strategy looks wiser with every swing in electric demand, Ford and GM have spent heavily on electric vehicles while leaning on trucks for profit, Stellantis has wrestled with the burden of fourteen brands, and the Japanese makers have weighed mergers and alliances to stay competitive. Leadership changes, factory openings and closures, alliances and spinoffs can redraw the map quickly, and the industry's pecking order is less settled than at any time in decades.

This page follows the automakers as companies: chief executives and boardroom shakeups, new plants and partnerships, electric and software strategies, and the moves of Chinese brands into Europe, Latin America, Southeast Asia and beyond. It is the broad view of who is building what and why, a place to watch how the world's most familiar names respond to new rivals, new technology and a fast-changing political landscape. The rankings can look permanent from one year to the next, but history suggests otherwise.