Here’s something to think about: for any given automotive marque, what is the greatest variance of vehicle size for the vehicles that wear that marque? Sure, the size difference between a Ford Festiva and a Ford Expedition is big, but it’s less than, say, a Ford Fiesta and Ford Trimotor, for example. But even that difference in scale is nothing compared to what I think is the biggest size delta of any carmaker brand: Hyundai. Hyundai has made tiny city cars like the Hyundai Atos up there and they also build colossal container ships under the Hyundai name, too. That’s a massive spectrum of sizes for vehicles wearing the Hyundai brand.
Can any other carmaker even come close to that? I mean, Chrysler back in the 1960s and 1970s sort of could have made a claim, sort of. I mean, there was this:
And yes, Chrysler had a hand in the Saturn moon rockets, but that Saturn IB there in the ad was never badged as a Chrysler anything, so it doesn’t count. And, even if it did, I think it’d still be smaller than a container ship.
Am I missing a company here? Is there a company that makes microcars and gigantic cruise ships under the same name? I don’t think so?
I’m in the air to LA now. I’m waving at you! Can you see me?
I think Kawasaki and Mitsubishi still build ships which puts,them in a similar size range. If you limit it to wheeled vehicles with the same name then it’s probably a toss up between Volvo and GM Since Volvo makes some huge construction machinery under the Volvo truck corporate umbrella.
Large conglomerates which share the same brand names across different businesses seem to have gone extinct. I blame modern marketing and also anti monopoly laws.. I would say Mitsubishi is another one. Both Japan and Korea have Chaebol or their equivalents (Saab and Nokia I know they don’t make cars). I am sure the Agnellis have their fingers in a lot of things too.
I still have a Commodore file cabinet, I guess that is an analog file manager. These days with private equity firms you get more value out by subdividing your company.. good or bad.. who knows.
I rented an Atos once, and leaned my average sized behind against the front fender, which resulted in a big dent. I found a stick on the ground and poked it out from a factory hole in the engine compartment. Looked okay enough to not mention that when I turned it in again. Only car I’ve ever tried that with..
Haven’t much experience with the big ones. Just try to keep out of their way when sailboating.
In 1969-1971, General Motors built the EMD DDA40X locomotive which clocked in at 545,000 lbs. In 1987, they (co)built the Sunraycer solar car that weighed 585 lbs. That’s a 932:1 weight disparity
If you want to get more specific and limit it to production passenger vehicles manufactured at the same time… In 1989, GM made the M100 Series Lotus Elan (2198 lbs) and the Amtrak EMD F40PH (282,000 lbs) for a 128:1 ratio on weight.
GM also built quite a few diesel and diesel electrics for South Africa Railways. I didn’t dig through every one to see if any are heavier than the EMD, but they built a few big boys…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_South_African_locomotive_classes
Hitachi also makes everything from ships to semiconductors with excavators down at the small end of ‘vehicle’. I don’t recall any cars, but they do make escalators and elevators. Those would qualify as public transit, right?
What about Samsung? They make cell phones and supertankers
I wouldn’t call a cell phone a vehicle. They do/did also make cars though.
^Yeah I think that Samsung is the correct answer here.
Runner up would probably be Daewoo, who even sold small cars in the U.S.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daewoo_Motors
Daewoo also made the largest ship ever to move mineral ores around the globe:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valemax
So… I guess Hyundai might be 3rd place?
Sadly no longer. As of 2022 ‘Renault Samsung Motors’ is now under the title ‘Renault Korea Motors’ as Samsung has dropped the name licensing deal. Also apparently they’re developing new product with Geely for some reason? As if there weren’t enough Dacias, Renaults, Nissans, or Mitsubishis to sell?
Daewoo also used to make everything from cars to ships, so it would probably depend on how small their smallest car was at the time.
Everything is made of star stuff, according to Carl Sagan, so I’d say the size disparity from the planet Saturn and a Saturn SC1.
LOL as if Chrysler’s business is to get you where you want to go. If it was, they’d make better cars.
Maybe Toyota, but not Chrysler!
Anyone mentioned Kawasaki?
Everything from Mega-structure buildings, through vast ships, Helicopters, Jetskis; right down to 50cc motorcycles.
I love that Chrysler ad. I wonder if there’s a large size print suitable for framing available.
Chrysler brochure is kinda misleading, there are even smaller Chryslers: https://www.thebrazilianconnection.com/outboardpics/80ch9.jpg
The Chrysler Sno Runner was arguably even smaller.
https://www.hagerty.com/media/automotive-history/before-iacocca-saved-chrysler-quirky-sno-runner-made-valiant-ill-fated-effort/
Mitsubishi.
From Mitsubishi Kei cars (smaller than the Atos) through rockets to cruise ships (smaller than a HMM Algericas-class container ship, it is true).
If we are looking percentage difference between smallest and largest, Honda’s new Motocompo is what, 30-40 times smaller than the Hyundai city car. Is their largest corporate jet less than 30 times smaller than the cargo ship? Yeah, probably not.
Are we talking length, mass, or volume?
{begin Michael Scott mode}
That’s what she said.
{end Michael Scott mode}
I’d say a cargo ship on the scale of the one in the top photo is easily >30 times bugger than a Honda jet. If talking fully loaded mass Id guess it might be in the order of 1000 times bigger.
Does the TikTok USB cable trick work on the cargo ships?
The company I work for (Biggest supplier on the wire harness industry) they also make HVAC systems, solar systems, they own nursing homes, agricultural farms, taxi meters. Not ships, but I just find interesting how one company have businesses on things not related to each other.
How many planets in the standard solar system – are these just models of our own or wholy custom? Can I order a bespoke Pluto? How are they handling Planet X?
Sorry for the Dad Joke, but I just can’t help myself.
Contact Slartibartfast. His fjords are exceptional.
I read that exactly the same way. Massive double take followed by “ooooOOOoooh”
lmao solar panel systems, I need more coffee
Can I get one without Uranus? That place stinks.
So do you work with Crowley and Aziraphale?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUnLe6gRTjQ
If we kept it strictly land-based, it’s probably Caterpillar, right? They build those massive dump trucks for mining that are like 50 feet long and 30 feet wide, but also have those tiny little excavators that can fit through a doorway.
If you just keep it to “vehicles” though, I don’t think you’re going to beat some sort of ship for the top end. Panamax container ships, for example, are 965 feet long and 106 feet wide. There’s nothing on dry earth that big. Even that giant mining thing in Germany is 200 feet short of Panamax, and those aren’t even the biggest container ships in the world.
Fuji Heavy Industries makes everything from Polaris snowmobiles to iconic Japanese mountains.
Daewoo was like that, they had their hands in EVERYTHING.
Fuji Heavy Industries changed their name to Subaru Corporation several years ago, they’ve downsized to just two divisions- Subaru Aerospace and Subaru Automobile, everything else has been sold off or closed down over the past couple decades
Is David going to pick you up at the airport? Wonder what he’ll be driving if he does?
Peugeot. Cars, Vans, Bicycles and Pepper grinders. So French.
My favorite Xmas present was a Peugeot pepper grinder. I still use it almost daily.
That time I told my sister I bought a new Peugeot for Christmas and presented her with a pepper grinder.
Lucky woman!
+1 came here for Pug
Kawasaki also makes container ships.
I believe Mitsubishi does too, though, there’s a couple different actual companies in the overall Mitsubishi Group (Mitsubishi Motors, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries…).
Mitsubishi also make Pens and Pencils.
Indeed, Mitsubishi makes everything. They’ve got their fingers in cars, banking, pharmaceuticals, plastics, pulp & paper, chemicals, heavy machinery, oil & gas, shipping, and simple consumer products. It’s not only wild how many areas they are in, but how the company reportedly operates it’s various businesses with smaller subsidiaries treating the larger subsidiaries like it is still the feudal system.
It’s a keiretsu, basically an association or club of independent companies that share the same name and conduct business with each other, operating in a close alliance while maintaining separate legal identities. They own small shareholdings in each other to strengthen the alliance, but don’t exactly control each other.
The largest shareholder in Mitsubishi Motors is Nissan, at 34% (enough for veto power over the board of directors), the “lead” company in the Mitsubishi keiretsu, Mitsubishi Corporation, is the second largest shareholder, with 20%.
The Mitsubishi keiretsu are so huge that when we wanted to end native old growth logging in Tasmania, Australia. The environmental groups lobbied Mitsubishi direct and only then did the Tasmanian government agree to place FSC regulations on their logging. Cut out the middle man!
We had a Mitsubishi TV back in the late 80s. Lasted into the 00s.
I recently discovered my bank actually has roots with Mitsubishi!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MUFG_Union_Bank
The Mitsubishi Pencil Company is actually unrelated! They even derived their three diamond star brand from a different source. Both companies use a common three-diamond logo now for branding purposes.
I didn’t know that but cheers for the update.
From 2001-2011, Northrup Grumman was the parent company of both Grumman mail trucks and Nimitz-class supercarriers. I don’t think they actually manufactured both at the same time though.
Grumman was my first thought. IIRC, they also made picnic coolers, though calling one a vehicle is a stretch
I think you could make a better case for the Grumman LLV -> Nimitz Class Carrier connection than you could the Hyundai Atos -> Hyundai container ships. Hyundai Motors and Hyundai Heavy Industries are technically different companies whereas Grumman merged into the same entity that was Newport News.
TL;DR If your container ship and your Elantra need warranty repair, different companies are taking that on. If you mail truck and aircraft carrier need warranty repair, it’s the same folks.
Grumman also made aluminum canoes…
This doesn’t count since it’s not mobile (besides, those ships are most likely the biggest mobile objects ever built on Earth) but how about a theme park?
https://japanesenostalgiccar.com/mitsubishi-theme-park-kamiseya-park-yokohama/
Actually, the largest moving object ever built would be a 2014 Daewoo (MV Pioneering Spirit)
Not clear if concurrent production counts or not, but there’s also a tiny electric scooter sold by Daewoo called the D22. Not a lot of English sources about it, but I’m assuming it’s made by their consumer electronics division.
Waves back