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Visual Capitalist’s widely-shared “14 Companies Control the Entire Auto Industry” chart dates to 2015–16 and is now factually wrong on six separate counts — it predates Stellantis, Ferrari’s spin-off, and GM’s sale of Opel/Vauxhall. This infographic rebuilds the ownership tree from current filings and press releases, and draws the one distinction that most charts skip: a minority stake is not a parent company.
A stake is not ownership
Toyota holds about 20.4% of Subaru, 5% of Mazda and 4.94% of Suzuki. Renault holds 15% of Nissan, with its voting rights capped. Those relationships are drawn here as dashed lines rather than solid ones, deliberately: not one of those four companies is owned by the company at the other end of the cable. Charts that fold minority stakes into a parent’s brand list are the reason the same handful of marques keeps getting mis-attributed year after year.
What’s still moving
Toyota’s Hino Motors and Daimler Truck’s Mitsubishi Fuso were folded into a single truck holding company named Archion in October 2025, with Toyota and Daimler Truck each confirmed at 25%. The remaining roughly 50% was sold in a secondary offering to institutional investors — documented in Daimler Truck’s own press releases, which put Daimler Truck’s take from the sale at roughly €600m. Nissan’s stake in Mitsubishi Motors now sits at roughly 24.5%, down from the 34% controlling stake it acquired in 2016; the exact date of the reduction isn’t pinned down in the sources checked. Ferrari N.V. is separately listed and independently governed, with Exor N.V. as its largest single shareholder. And Volkswagen AG holds the majority of Porsche AG’s ordinary shares, while Porsche SE separately holds the majority of Volkswagen AG’s voting rights — the two Porsches on this chart are not the same company.
| Date | What a pre-2021 chart gets wrong | Correction |
|---|---|---|
| 16 Jan 2021 | FCA no longer exists as a standalone group | Fiat Chrysler Automobiles merged with Groupe PSA to form Stellantis. A chart still showing an FCA box beside a PSA box is showing a company that was dissolved. |
| 2017 | General Motors does not own Opel or Vauxhall | GM sold both marques to PSA in 2017; they came into Stellantis with the 2021 merger. The two most commonly mis-parented brands on the web. |
| 2016 | Ferrari is not inside the Fiat group | Ferrari N.V. was spun off and separately listed in 2016. It stands on the floor here, not on anyone’s line. |
| Jan 2023 | Renault does not control Nissan | Renault cut its Nissan holding from roughly 43% to 15% under a January 2023 agreement, effective November 2023, voting rights capped; a separate, later March 2025 agreement set a further 10% floor on the cross-shareholding. |
| Feb 2025 | There is no Honda-Nissan-Mitsubishi group | Merger talks opened December 2024 and collapsed February 2025. The three remain separate companies — the single most common 2026 charting error. |
| 2021 / 2022 | Daimler is not the parent of Mercedes-Benz | Daimler Truck was spun off in 2021 and Daimler AG was renamed Mercedes-Benz Group in February 2022. The name on the parent box changed. |
| Oct 2025 | Hino Motors and Mitsubishi Fuso are not separately parented | Both truck makers were folded into a new holding company, Archion, with Toyota and Daimler Truck each confirmed at 25%. The remaining ~50% was sold in a secondary offering to institutional investors, per Daimler Truck's own press releases — not unconfirmed, as older charts assumed. |
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Frequently asked questions
Why are some lines on the ownership chart dashed instead of solid?
Dashed lines mark a minority stake rather than full ownership — Toyota’s roughly 20.4% of Subaru, 5% of Mazda and 4.94% of Suzuki, and Renault’s 15% of Nissan, are all drawn dashed because none of those four companies is owned by the company at the other end of the line.
Does Renault control Nissan?
No. Renault’s stake was cut from roughly 43% to 15% under a January 2023 agreement, effective November 2023, and its voting rights are capped. A separate, later March 2025 agreement set a further 10% floor on the cross-shareholding, but the relationship is drawn as a minority stake rather than a parent-subsidiary line.
Is Ferrari part of Stellantis or the Fiat group?
No. Ferrari N.V. was spun off and separately listed in 2016, with Exor N.V. as its largest single shareholder, and it stands on the chart independently rather than under any parent.
How many brands does Stellantis own?
Fourteen marques sit under Stellantis, the group formed on 16 January 2021 when Fiat Chrysler Automobiles merged with Groupe PSA — a merger that also brought in Opel and Vauxhall, which General Motors had sold to PSA back in 2017.
What is Archion?
Archion is the new truck holding company that Toyota’s Hino Motors and Daimler Truck’s Mitsubishi Fuso were folded into in October 2025. Toyota and Daimler Truck are each confirmed at 25%; the remaining roughly 50% was sold in a secondary offering to institutional investors, documented in Daimler Truck’s own press releases, which put Daimler Truck’s take from the sale at roughly €600m.
Did Honda, Nissan and Mitsubishi actually merge?
No. Merger talks between the three opened in December 2024 and collapsed in February 2025. All three remain separate companies, though outdated charts showing a combined group are still one of the most common ownership errors circulating in 2026.
Sources
Company press releases, annual reports and exchange filings of the groups shown · Stellantis N.V. (16 Jan 2021) · Daimler Truck spin-off (2021) · Mercedes-Benz Group rename (Feb 2022) · Renault-Nissan Alliance agreements (Jan 2023; Mar 2025) · Honda / Nissan joint statement (Feb 2025) · Toyota / Daimler Truck / Archion investor disclosures (Oct 2025) · Lucid / PIF filings (2026). Cross-checked via live search on 2026-08-19; ownership in this industry moves fast, treat all percentages as of that date.