BMW leapfrogs Toyota as the most valuable car brand

The result is part of Millward Brown's BrandZ Top 100 Survey, and values the BMW brand at US$21.82 billion, down 9 percent from the year before but still enough for the Bavarian carmaker to take top spot ahead of Toyota.

Toyota was second, with a brand value of US21.77 billion, a decline of 27percent. In third place was Toyota's fellow Japanese carmaker Honda, with a brand value of US$14.3 billion. BMW's rival Mercedes-Benz was fourth with a brand value of US$13.74 billion, while Porsche rounds of the top five at US$12.02 billion. Both Stuttgart brands were down 11 and 31 percent respectively.

Nissan ranked sixth with a brand value of US$8.61 billion, ahead of Ford with US$7.04 billion, Volkswagen at US$6.99 billion, Audi at US$3.62 billion and Renault with US$3.26 billion. Ford and Volkswagen posted significant gains over the previous year, up 19 and 20 percent respectively.