Several foreign manufacturers, such as Honda,
Toyota, and BMW, operate assembly plants in the
United States and Canada. Automobile manufacturers
have joined together, or merged, to reduce costs
and increase market share. In addition, many smaller
auto manufacturers have been bought by larger companies
to form larger global automobile companies.
Most often the ownership of a company is not readily
identifiable by the brand name. An example of this
is Ford Motor Company; Ford brands include Ford,
Mercury, Lincoln, Volvo, and Mazda.