While US electric car manufacturer Tesla has been hogging the headlines lately, Mercedes-Benz has been singled out as the world’s most valuable luxury car brand for the sixth year in a row.

The marque with the three-pointed star slots in at number eight in the latest global brand rankings published by renowned US consultancy Interbrand – a position it has held since 2018.

According to the ranking, which includes brands from all industries, Toyota is still the most valuable carmaker overall in seventh place, just ahead of Mercedes-Benz, which is why the Stuttgart maker refers to itself as the world’s most valuable luxury carmaker.

Estimated brand value at Mercedes-Benz has risen 3 per cent since 2020 to 50,866 billion US dollars. The German automotive company is also the only European brand in the top 10.

The ranking comes after Elon Musk’s EV giant Tesla managed to touch 1 trillion dollars in market capital, despite being the lowest revenue-making company in the S&P 500 index.

The company reached the milestone after ride-hailing service Hertz ordered 100,000 Teslas to add to its fleet.

Interbrand rates Tesla at number 14 in the line-up, behind BMW in 12th place, with Apple, Amazon and Microsoft occupying the three top slots. And yet the analysts see Tesla as “the real champion” of the ranking, recording a “near-tripling of its brand value.”

The US brand consultancy Interbrand lists the top 100 of the most valuable brands worldwide and is widely considered a competitive benchmark and an important indicator in industry circles.