Side Hustle: Other Stuff That Automakers Make

Diversification is just good business, and these automakers get it.

By: Motor1.com Team

Feb 22, 2019 at 4:11pm ET

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Carmakers make cars. Some make trucks and motorcycles, too. Others have divisions that design a wide array of products for external clients. And they almost invariably offer lines of branded merchandise (especially for their racing teams). But some have entire other businesses on the side, producing everything from sausages and pepper mills to motor yachts and jet engines.

Most of these “side hustles” are nowhere near as profitable as their core businesses, and they're typically far from their raisons d'être. Some have even split off altogether from the automakers with which they share their name. But if you look hard enough, you can find a wide variety of other products bearing the names and logos you'd sooner expect to see on the backs of cars than on... well, read on.