Tata group’s Land Rover has made it to the elite club of world’s 100 most valuable brands as the only Indian-owned entity, while iconic Apple has retained its top slot with a valuation of nearly $119 billion.
Land Rover, an iconic British car brand owned by the Tatas, has been ranked 91st with a brand value of $4.47 billion and is one of the five new entrants to this annual list compiled by leading brand consultancy Interbrand.
Apple — maker of iPhone mobiles, Mac computers, iPad tablets and iPod music players, among others — is followed by Google in the second position ($107 billion).
These are the only two with brand values in excess of $100 billion. While Land Rover is the only Indian-owned entity on the list, there are at least six other brands ranked among top 100 that are part of the entities run by Indian-origin CEOs.
These include Satya Nadella-led Microsoft (fifth with a brand value of $61 billion), Indra Nooyi-led Pepsi (24th; $19 billion), Shantanu Narayen-led Adobe (77th; $5.3 billion) and Ajay Banga-led MasterCard (88th; $4.7 billion).
Ivan Menezes-led Diageo, which also owns majority stake in India’s largest alcoholic beverage manufacturer United Spirits, has two brands — Smirnoff (34th; $13 billion) and Johnnie Walker (86th; $4.8 billion) — in the top 100 list.
Land Rover has been ranked higher than many big global brands such as FedEx, Huawei, Heineken, Pizza Hut, BOSS, Nokia, Gap and Nintendo.
“Exemplifying British engineering and expertise in the SUV category, the iconic brand has invested heavily in product creation, facility, and infrastructure,” Interbrand said.
The leading brand consultancy further noted that “with 115 awards across its car range (led by Range Rover with 55 awards), Land Rover is finally getting the recognition it deserves and has improved its JD Power scores significantly.”
To be included in Best Global Brands, a brand must be truly global, having successfully transcended geographic and cultural boundaries, Interbrand said.