Toyota and Mercedes-Benz are top global car brands

Toyota & Mercedes-Benz are the Top Global Automotive Brands 2011 Interbrand, a branding consultancy, delivers a report on the world’s brands every year, and in 2011, despite recall woes and the devastation of the Japanese Tsunami, Toyota leads the automotive brands, with luxury car maker Mercedes-Benz just behind. Interbrand uses three measures to gauge how effective a brand is – performance of branded product, the brands ability to secure earnings and the role of the brand in purchasing decisions – to come up with a chart of the top 100 world brands. At the top of the tree are companies like Coca Cola, IBM, Microsoft and Google, but car brands do well with Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Honda, VW, and Ford all making it in to the top 50.

Chevrolet Corvette chief engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov honored in Russia

Belgian-born Zora Arkus-Duntov was the first chief engineer for the Chevrolet Corvette. But he is a new discovery to Russians, even though he lived in St. Petersburg through his teenage years.

USED CAR PRICES FIRMER THAN IN SUMMER

USED CAR prices were firmer across most sectors between September and November than the previous 3 months, according to the used car pricing experts, CAP. The CAP Used Car Price Index also reveals an increase in values for 4x4s over the period while convertibles are hitting the doldrums. A reduction in the number of used cars available overall, at the benchmark 3 year old point, is helping to keep prices relatively stable in most cases.