Automotive Brands

Car Brands Full List

A List of Every Car Brand, Manufacturer & Aftermarket Tuner

Here is our compiled list of all automotive manufacturers over the years. We probably missed a few but for car guys these are the ones to know. We decided to split the list into popular car makers and then alphabetically to make finding things a little easier.

Note that this car brand list includes companies that are still around as well as those that are long gone. The only real criteria is that the automotive brand made a car that we consider worth of “car enthusiast” status. Please let us know if there are any car companies missing or if we have got anything wrong. We hope you find this useful.

Popular Car Brands

Iconic Supercar & Sportscar Brands

Alfa Romeo

Founded: 1910 / Founder: Nicola Romeo, Ugo Stella, Alexandre Darracq / Headquarters: Turin, Italy

Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. is an Italian car manufacturer. Founded as A.L.F.A. in 1910, the company has been involved in car racing since 1911. It was owned by Italian state holding company Istituto per la Ricostruzione Industriale between 1932 and 1986, when it became a part of the Fiat group.

Aston Martin

Founded: 1913 / Founder: Lionel Martin, Robert Bamford / Headquarters: Gaydon, United Kingdom

Aston Martin is a British manufacturer of luxury sports cars and grand tourers. It was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. The company has had a chequered financial history, including bankruptcy in the 1970s, but has enjoyed long periods of stability, especially over the last decade.

Bentley

Founded: 1919 / Founder: W. O. Bentley / Headquarters: Crewe, England, United Kingdom

Bentley Motors Limited is a British company that designs, develops, and manufactures luxury motorcars which are largely hand-built. It is a subsidiary of Volkswagen AG. Now based in Crewe, England, Bentley Motors Limited was founded by W. O. Bentley on 18 January 1919 in Cricklewood, North London.

BMW

Founded: 1916 / Founder: Franz Josef Popp, Karl Rapp / Headquarters: Munich, Germany

BMW (Bavarian Motor Works) is a German automobile company founded in 1916, it also owns and produces Mini cars and Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. BMW is one of three best-selling luxury automakers in the world, along with Audi and Mercedes-Benz. BMW is still an independent auto manufacturer which is very rare in this day and age.

Bugatti

Founded: 1909 / Founder: Ettore Bugatti / Headquarters: Molsheim, France

Automobiles Ettore Bugatti was a French car manufacturer of high-performance automobiles, founded in 1909 in the then German city of Molsheim, Alsace by Italian-born Ettore Bugatti. In the 1990s, an Italian entrepreneur revived it as a builder of limited production exclusive sports cars. Today, it is owned by VW.

Ferrari

Founded: 1947 / Founder: Enzo Ferrari / Headquarters: Maranello, Italy

Ferrari is an Italian auto brand making in high-end and high-performance racing cars, supercars, and sports cars. Founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1939 out of Alfa Romeo’s race division, built its first car in 1940. Company’s inception as manufacturer is usually recognized in 1947, when the first Ferrari-badged car was completed.

Jaguar

Founded: 1922 / Founder: William Lyons, William Walmsley / Headquarters: Whitley, United Kingdom

Jaguar is a British car manufacturer founded in 1922, is now a division of Jaguar Land Rover owned by Tata Motors, which purchased it from Ford in 2008. Because Jaguar occupies both the performance and luxury markets, its competition is particularly diverse. It includes Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Lexus, Cadillac and Infiniti.

Koenigsegg

Founded: 1994 / Founder: Christian von Koenigsegg / Headquarters: Ängelholm, Sweden

The company was founded in 1994 in Sweden by Christian von Koenigsegg, with the intention of producing a “world-class” supercar. In March 2009 the Koenigsegg CCXR was chosen by Forbes to be one of the most beautiful cars in history. They make some of the most extreme hypercars on the planet.

Lamborghini

Founded: 1963 / Founder: Ferruccio Lamborghini / Headquarters: Sant’Agata Bolognese, Italy

Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. is an Italian brand and manufacturer of luxury supercars, sports cars, SUVs based in Sant’Agata Bolognese and tractors Lamborghini Trattori in Pieve di Cento, Italy. The company is owned by the Volkswagen Group through its subsidiary Audi.

Lotus

Founded: 1952 / Founder: Colin Chapman / Headquarters: Hethel, United Kingdom

Lotus Cars is a British manufacturer of sports and racing cars based at Hethel, England. The company is famous for designing and building landmark race and production automobiles of extremely light weight and possessing legendary handling characteristics.

Maserati

Founded: 1914 / Founder: Alfieri Maserati / Headquarters: Modena, Italy

Maserati is an Italian luxury vehicle manufacturer established on 1 December 1914, in Bologna. The company’s headquarters are now in Modena, and its emblem is a trident. It has been owned by the Italian-American car giant Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) since 1993.

McLaren

Founded: 1963 / Founder: Bruce McLaren / Headquarters: Woking, United Kingdom

McLaren Automotive ( McLaren) is a British automotive manufacturer of luxury, high-performance sports cars. To mark their move to the McLaren Technology Centre, the McLaren logo was refined and updated in 2002 with a more modern design; the now familiar speedmark was retained.

‘

Mercedes-Benz

Founded: 1926 / Founder: Karl Benz, Gottlieb Daimler / Headquarters: Stuttgart, Germany

Mercedes-Benz is a global automobile marque and a division of the German company Daimler AG. The brand is known for luxury vehicles, buses, coaches, and lorries. It is also the name of the world’s oldest continuously produced automobile line. Its contemporary competition in automobile production is from BMW, Audi, Lexus, Cadillac and Infiniti.

Pagani

Founded: 1992 / Founder: Horacio Pagani / Headquarters: San Cesario sul Panaro, Italy

Pagani Automobili S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of Supercars and carbon fibre. The company was founded in 1992 by the Argentinian Horacio Pagani, and is based in San Cesario sul Panaro, near Modena, Italy. gani’s first model, the Zonda, is propelled by mid-mounted V-12 DOHC engines manufactured by Mercedes-Benz’s AMG division.

Porsche

Founded: 1931 / Founder: Ferdinand Porsche / Headquarters: Stuttgart, Germany

Porsche AG, is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans. Porsche AG is headquartered in Stuttgart, and is owned by Volkswagen AG, which is itself majority-owned by Porsche Automobil Holding SE. Porsche’s current lineup includes the 718 Boxster/Cayman, 911, Panamera, Macan and Cayenne.

Carmakers A to Z

Alphabetical List of Car Brands

This list of car brands tries shows every (major) automotive brand over the last century (and a bit). Some of these car makers are end to end car companies, others are niche supercar makers and some are old coachbuilders that no longer exist. We hope you find the car make you’re looking for from our extensive list. Here you can find the full list of all car brand names: