Third-placed Chevrolet with 34,178 appearances is an iconic American brand that has seen its vehicles used in numerous US movies such as The Fast and the Furious, American Graffiti and Days of Thunder, with the Detroit vehicle maker even appearing as the Batmobile in Tim Burton’s Batman movies, as well as in the Transformers series, where a Chevrolet Camaro serves as the alter ego of Bumblebee.
The overall rankings for the Top 50 vehicle brand appearances in English-speaking films and TV programmes is as follows, with a few surprises, such as Renault and Fiat featuring in the Top 10, plus the lowly positions of Rolls-Royce (31st, just ahead of Hyundai), Ferrari (48th) and Maserati, which doesn’t even scrape into the Top 50 on-screen appearances!
Rank, marque and on-screen appearances
- Ford – 61,683
- Mercedes-Benz – 34,675
- Chevrolet – 34,178
- Volkswagen – 19,399
- Toyota – 17,678
- BMW – 15,267
- Dodge – 13,598
- Renault – 12,260
- Fiat – 11,999
- Cadillac – 11,365
- Volvo – 9,814
- Peugeot – 9,280
- Honda – 8,752
- Citroën – 8,719
- Nissan/Datsun – 8,718
- Lincoln – 7,314
- Opel – 6,574
- Jeep – 6,328
- Audi – 6,210
- Land Rover – 6,201
- GAZ Volga – 5,926
- Chrysler – 5,551
- GMC – 5,535
- Plymouth – 5,492
- Jaguar – 5,138
- Buick 4,786
- Mitsubishi – 4,713
- Porsche – 4,634
- Pontiac – 4,442
- Alfa Romeo – 4,097
- Rolls-Royce – 3,621
- Hyundai – 3,589
- Mazda – 3,461
- Oldsmobile – 3,396
- Harley-Davidson – 3,269
- Mercury – 3,123
- AutoVAZ/Lada – 3,099
- Yamaha – 2,929
- Skoda – 2,895
- Austin – 2,835
- Suzuki – 2,795
- Saab – 2,277
- Vauxhall – 2,228
- Holden – 2,208
- Willys – 2,195
- Triumph – 2,162
- Piaggio – 2,145
- Ferrari – 1,905
- International Harvester – 1,899
- Rover – 1,894
Rover’s placing just inside the Top 50 ranking is quite a surprise, and must be down to all of the P6 and SD1 police car appearances on-screen over the years, as well as the starring role of a Rover 200 as the main transport of Richard and Hyacinth Bucket (‘pronounced Bouquet’) in the popular 1990s BBC sitcom, Keeping Up Appearances!
If you were fortunate enough to come along to Goodwood last weekend to attend the first of its ‘Secret Cinema’ drive-in movie events, or are planning to attend one of the upcoming future film viewings, be sure to keep an eye out for the vehicles that appear in the films, though don’t look too hard during Frozen as no cars appear in this movie! Happy viewing, and enjoy your car spotting.
Mini image by Harry Elliott.