The automotive world is undergoing a bit of an identity crisis at the moment, with new brands popping up every single year. This is especially true in Asia, where cheap Chinese cars are threatening to flood the market and disrupt even the biggest car brands in the world. This is in sharp contrast to a couple decades ago, when the youngest and most innovative car company would have been Tesla, backed by Elon Musk's PayPal fortune. Today, anyone with basic funding and a dream can start a car company.
And while competition is always good news for the consumer, how many car brands are too many?
These five car brands on our list are among the youngest in the world. All of them are mature brands, as in, they all have factories up and running, with cars being produced, today. What makes these newcomers fascinating isn't just their youth, it's their complete rejection of how things have always been done. They're not burdened by decades of legacy thinking, union contracts, or outdated facilities. No, to the contrary, these companies actually make some of the most innovative cars, with the best technology and other standout features. One brand on this list actually started out building budget-friendly Android phones before moving onto cars, of all things. With that said, here are five of the youngest car brands in the world.
Read more: 5 Of The Worst Car Trends We've Ever Seen
Togg — 2017
The first brand on our list is named Togg, and comes from Turkey, where it was founded by five companies, namely, BMC, Nadolu Grubu, Turkcell, Kok Grubu, and Zorlu Holdings in 2017. You may be interested to find out that the interiors on one of Togg's flagship models, an SUV called the T10X, draw from designs by Pininfarina, the Italian design house that mostly works on Ferraris. Currently, Togg offers two vehicles in total: an SUV called the T10X, and a sedan called the T10F. Other feathers in Togg's cap include the fact that it produced Turkey's first in-house car, as well as Turkey's first electric vehicle, although some Turkish people sneer at the brand, calling it a manipulation whose only purpose is to get the Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan another term in office.
Togg opened its doors on October 29, 2017, which also happened to be the 99th anniversary of the founding of the Turkish Republic, with the announcement that its SUV would be priced at almost a million Turkish Lira — a price unaffordable for most Turkish people, as at the exchange rates of the time it worked out to about $50,000. However, at the end of the day, Togg kept to its word and actually released the car for sale to the public, which earns it spot on our list.
VinFast — 2017
As with most of the other brands on this list, the next one also comes from the far east, this time from Vietnam, having been founded in 2017. The company called VinFast has quickly grown from being a humble e-scooter company to a full-fledged EV manufacturer, and it now has a presence in the U.S. as well. In the U.S., VinFast offers four distinct EV SUV models, called the VF6, VF7, VF8, and VF9 respectively — with the VF6 being the smallest, and the VF9 being the largest. At the time of writing, the VF9 is available to lease from $449 per month, and the VF8 from $279 per month — with the VF6 and VF7 not on sale yet.
The base MSRP on the VF8 is $39,900 for the Eco trim, and $44,900 for the Plus trim, with the plus adding 53 hp, 65 lb-ft of torque, larger wheels, a power liftgate, auto-dimming LEDs, a better sound system, 12-way adjustable seats, and a panoramic sunroof. The full-size VF9 only comes in the Plus trim, which starts at a not-insignificant $62,900, for which you get 402 hp, 457 lb-ft of torque, a 123 kWh battery, 291 miles of range, AWD as standard, a towing capacity of 3,968 pounds, a power liftgate, 21-inch alloy wheels, memory seating positions, tri-zone climate control, 212 cubic-feet of boot space, an 8-inch screen on the rear console, and lots more.
Zeekr — 2021
Futuristic vehicle manufacturer Zeekr is among the many companies owned by Chinese vehicle giant, Geely. The parent company announced its creation as a means to "bring competition" into the premium EV market, in March 2021. Its first vehicles were on the road by October that same year, pointing to an insanely efficient production and design process. Currently, the company offers seven distinct models, a shooting brake called the 001; a minivan named the 009; two SUVs, christened the X and 7X respectively; and a sedan offering, creatively called the Zeekr Luxury Sedan.
The ultra-luxury version of the 009 minivan is called the 009 Grand, and the shooting brake is available in a high-performance variant known as the 001 FR. Also, though Zeekr went public a short while ago, Geely has been offering to buy back all outstanding shares since March of this year. A statement by Geely said that the company wants to re-privatize Zeekr "amidst growing competition" to consolidate its business. This could be a sign that Zeekr is cooking up something behind the scenes, but we'll just have to wait and see. In the end, it is a really innovative company that is pushing several boundaries, and we're excited to see what it comes up with next.
Omoda — 2022
Just like the Zeekr/Geely partnership, this next brand on our list is also a subsidiary of a huge Chinese automotive giant. Omoda is owned and funded by the second-most successful car company in China and recent fortune-500 entrant, Chery. Alongside Omoda, Chery also launched another brand called Jaecoo. Both brands are sold exclusively outside China, to help Chery hit its export targets. In fact, the two sub brands are so closely tied together that they share a website, simply named omodajaecoo.com.
As of writing, Omoda sells just two models, the C5 and the E5, both of which are small SUVs. The C5 comes with a traditional internal combustion engine — a four-cylinder unit that makes 111 hp and 102 lb-ft of torque, paired to a continuously variable transmission. The car also offers two other engine options are available: a 1.5-liter TCI engine making 154 hp and 169 lb-ft of torque and a 1.6-liter unit that makes 194.5 hp and 214 lb-ft of torque.
The E5 is, as the name suggests, an electric vehicle that makes 201 hp, 251 lb-ft of torque, and has an estimated electric range of 267 miles. It's worth noting that Omoda's backers are no stranger to the automobile world. The parent company, Chery, sold more than a million passenger cars in 2024, making it second in sales only to the giant BYD group.
Xiaomi Auto — 2021
And lastly, we have Xiaomi — the brand on this list people are most likely to already be familiar with. That's right, the same Xiaomi that rocked the Asian market with its affordable smartphones also notably makes several cars. And though Xiaomi itself is more than a decade old, having been founded in 2010, its vehicle producing arm, Xiaomi Auto, only started in September 2021. Impressively, the company debuted its first car within two years of launching, revealing an EV sedan called the SU7 in 2023, though not officially launching it until March 2024.
Xiaomi has delivered a staggering 300,000 EVs in the 15 months since its first vehicle was officially released — a feat that even legacy manufacturers would struggle to achieve today. At the time of writing, Xiaomi Auto has two models on offer: the entry-level SU7 sedan, and the midsize YU7 SUV. However, several variants of the SU7 are currently on sale around the world, including a Pro and an Ultra version, each of which is more performant than the last. As a matter of fact, a modified version of the SU7 Ultra just set the world record for being the fastest electric vehicle to lap the Nürburgring in Germany, clocking a total time of 6 minutes, 24 seconds over a distance of about 12.9 miles. Currently, pricing for the base Su7 begins at about $30,000 (215,900 Yuan), and the YU7 comes in with a base price of about $35,300 (253,500 Yuan).
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