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A marque (French
French language

French is a Romance language spoken around the world by around 80 million people as first language, by 190 million as second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired tongue, with significant speakers in 54 countries....
 for "brand"; ) is a brand
Brand

A brand is a collection of symbols, experiences and associations connected with a product, a service, a person or any other artifact or entity....
 name, especially in the automobile
Automobile

An automobile or motor car is a wheeled motor vehicle for transportation passengers, which also carries its own car engine or motor. Most definitions of the term specify that automobiles are designed to run primarily on roads, to have seating for one to eight people, to typically have four wheels, and to be constructed principally f...
 industry. For example, Chevrolet
Chevrolet

Chevrolet is a brand of automobile, produced by General Motors . It is the top selling GM marque, with "Chevrolet" or "Chevy" being at times synonymous with GM....
 and Pontiac
Pontiac

Pontiac is a brand of automobiles, produced by General Motors Corporation that has been sold in the United States, Canada and Mexico since 1926....
 are marques of their maker, General Motors (GM). A company may have many marques: GM has used more than a dozen in the North America
North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
n market alone.

e are huge economies of scale
Economies of scale

Economies of scale, in microeconomics, are the cost advantages that a business obtains due to expansion. They are factors that cause a producer?s average cost per unit to fall as output rises....
 in the automobile industry. A larger company can develop and produce vehicles much more economically than a smaller concern.






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A marque (French
French language

French is a Romance language spoken around the world by around 80 million people as first language, by 190 million as second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired tongue, with significant speakers in 54 countries....
 for "brand"; ) is a brand
Brand

A brand is a collection of symbols, experiences and associations connected with a product, a service, a person or any other artifact or entity....
 name, especially in the automobile
Automobile

An automobile or motor car is a wheeled motor vehicle for transportation passengers, which also carries its own car engine or motor. Most definitions of the term specify that automobiles are designed to run primarily on roads, to have seating for one to eight people, to typically have four wheels, and to be constructed principally f...
 industry. For example, Chevrolet
Chevrolet

Chevrolet is a brand of automobile, produced by General Motors . It is the top selling GM marque, with "Chevrolet" or "Chevy" being at times synonymous with GM....
 and Pontiac
Pontiac

Pontiac is a brand of automobiles, produced by General Motors Corporation that has been sold in the United States, Canada and Mexico since 1926....
 are marques of their maker, General Motors (GM). A company may have many marques: GM has used more than a dozen in the North America
North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
n market alone.

Differentiation

There are huge economies of scale
Economies of scale

Economies of scale, in microeconomics, are the cost advantages that a business obtains due to expansion. They are factors that cause a producer?s average cost per unit to fall as output rises....
 in the automobile industry. A larger company can develop and produce vehicles much more economically than a smaller concern. Product development, in particular, benefits from these economies; research and development
Research and development

The phrase research and development , according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, refers to "creative work undertaken on a systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of man, culture and society, and the use of this stock of knowledge to devise new applications [sic]" ...
 costs can be spread out further, and contribute less to the cost of a vehicle. These savings can be passed on to the purchaser, or increase the profit margin of the manufacturer.

Because of these economies, the industry has a long history of consolidation. As a result, only a few companies worldwide produce cars in any great number. However, the number of marques has not reduced to anywhere near this degree. The reason is that automobiles are not purchased solely for utility; they are as much an article of fashion as clothing. Manufacturers therefore maintain marques (brands of automobile) even after consolidation, to serve differing segments of the market. While individual car model
Car model

A car model is a particular brand of vehicle sold under a marque. From an engineering point of view, a particular car model is usually defined and/or constrained by the use of a particular car chassis/bodywork combination or the same monocoque....
s come and go, and even model names change over time, the marque remains constant. Manufacturers try to give each marque a distinct image and message; success or failure depends on how successfully this is done and how well it corresponds to customer desires.

Marque differentiation does, however, conflict with the manufacturer's desire for those economies of scale. A successful balance must be maintained between the desire for commonality with the economy it brings, and the differentiation necessary for customers to perceive difference between marques. At the extreme, the only difference between two marques from the same manufacturer is the name placed on it; marque differentiation in only surface cosmetic detail is known, somewhat pejoratively as badge engineering
Badge engineering

Badge engineering is a term that describes the badge of one product as another. Due to the high cost of designing and engineering a totally new model, or establishing a new brand , it is often more cost-effective to rebadge a single product multiple times....
. Sometimes, such practices erode brand equity
Brand equity

Brand equity refers to the marketing effects or outcomes that accrue to a product with its brand name compared with those that would accrue if the same product did not have the brand name ....
 severely, while in other cases, the brands are strong enough that consumers do not distinguish a similarity.

Marques have also often developed halo vehicle
Halo vehicle

A halo vehicle is a marketing used in the automotive industry for a motor vehicle designed and marketed to promote a brand — to create a halo effect around the vehicle and thereby create positive associations related to the brand....
s — specialized desirable vehicles which they hope will cast a positive image on the marque as a whole. The Chevrolet Corvette
Chevrolet Corvette

The Chevrolet Corvette is a sports car that has been manufactured by General Motors since 1953. The car was originally designed by Harley Earl, and named by Myron Scott after the fast corvette....
, and the Bugatti Veyron
Bugatti Veyron

The Bugatti Veyron EB 16.4 is a mid-engine design Grand tourer car produced by Volkswagen Group subsidiary Bugatti Automobiles SAS and was introduced in 2005 as the fastest production car in the world....
 are excellent examples. Occasionally, manufacturers have created single vehicle marques
List of automobile model and marque oddities

Single-vehicle marquesAutomobile manufacturers generally attempt to have a family of vehicles sold under a single marque. Occasionally, however, manufacturers have deemed it important to sell a single vehicle under its own marque....
 for special vehicles.

Brand equity

Each year, BusinessWeek
BusinessWeek

BusinessWeek is a business magazine published by McGraw-Hill. It was first published in 1929 under the direction of Malcolm Muir, who was serving as president of the McGraw-Hill Publishing company at the time....
 publishes its 100 Best Global Brands study, ranking the financial value of brands
Brand equity

Brand equity refers to the marketing effects or outcomes that accrue to a product with its brand name compared with those that would accrue if the same product did not have the brand name ....
. Following are the automobile marques ranked by this study for 2005.

See also

  • Automaker
    Automaker

    The automotive industry designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells the world's motor vehicles. In 2007, more than 73 million motor vehicles, including cars and commercial vehicles were produced worldwide....
  • Car dealership
    Car dealership

    A car dealership or vehicle local distribution is a business that sells new Automobile and/or used cars at the retail level, based on a dealership contract with an automaker or its sales subsidiary....
     and multimarque (independent) distributor.
  • Car model
    Car model

    A car model is a particular brand of vehicle sold under a marque. From an engineering point of view, a particular car model is usually defined and/or constrained by the use of a particular car chassis/bodywork combination or the same monocoque....
  • List of automobile manufacturers
  • List of automobile model and marque oddities
    List of automobile model and marque oddities

    Single-vehicle marquesAutomobile manufacturers generally attempt to have a family of vehicles sold under a single marque. Occasionally, however, manufacturers have deemed it important to sell a single vehicle under its own marque....
  • General Motors Companion Make Program
    General Motors Companion Make Program

    General Motors pioneered the idea that consumers would aspire to buy up an automotive product ladder if a company met certain price points. As General Motors entered the 1920s, the product ladder started with the price leading Chevrolet marque, and then progressed upward in price, power and appointments to Oakland, Oldsmobile, Buick and ultimately...
  • Marque Retail India Pvt. Ltd.