Different templates for parent and children Taxonomy

The {$type}_template_hierarchy filter can be used to add templates to the list of files to check for each request:

Filters the list of template filenames that are searched for when retrieving a template to use.

With this filter, you can do something like below: add to theme’s functions.php or an mu-plugin (untested):

add_filter( 'taxonomy_template_hierarchy', static function ( $templates ) {
    $term = get_queried_object();

    if ( 'car-brand' !== $term->taxonomy ) {
        return $templates;
    }

    $ancestors = get_ancestors( $term->term_id, 'car-brand', 'taxonomy' );

    $new_template = sprintf( 'car-brand-ancestors-%d.php', count( $ancestors ) );

    return array( $new_template ) + $templates;
} );

With this approach, templates would apply like so:

Top-level Term: car-brand-ancestors-0.php
└─ Child Term: car-brand-ancestors-1.php
   └─ Grandchild Term: car-brand-ancestors-2.php

I use Query Monitor to check the template hierarchy, and I would recommend doing so here, as you’ll probably want to adjust to prioritize more specific templates first.

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