American consumers perceive Toyota and Ford to be the strongest brands, with most premium marques playing catch up, according to the new Consumer Reports Brand Report Card study.
Conducted by the Consumer Reports National Research Center, the survey asked which brands consumers thought were the leader in each of six categories: Design/Style, Performance, Quality, Safety, Technology/Innovation, and Value.
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In rank order, Toyota, Ford, Honda, Volvo and Chevrolet dominated overall scores for brand perception. This comes at a time when Toyota is poised to surpass General Motors as the world's largest automaker.
Toyota led by a wide margin, with 37 percent of respondents naming it as number one in at least one category. The overall brand perception rating is shaped by Toyota topping four of the six categories. Ford led Design/Style by a single percentage point over Toyota.
Small-volume automaker Volvo claimed top honors with a significant 10-percentage point advantage in the Safety category-the greatest margin in all categories. More details can be found at www.ConsumerReports.org.
Key findings from Consumer Reports Brand Report Card include:
• Seven out of 10 consumers considered safety and quality when evaluating a new car.
• The most important individual features in a new car were safety related.
• Technology and innovation were rated least important.
• Brand-wide focus on performance alone does not ensure the vehicles are considered among the sportiest.
• Nearly one quarter of Americans are considering buying a new Toyota.
• Volvo is the perceived safety leader, making it the only low-volume brand to top a category.
"Despite taking recent hits, Ford, and even Chevrolet, are brands still thought of highly by consumers," said Jeff Bartlett, deputy editor of ConsumerReports.org. "But our survey shows Toyota's brand appeal attracts car buyers, and it retains current owners."
Brand loyalty is a key measure of long-term success for both brands and products, with the general belief that it is easier to retain a customer than conquest a new one. Again, Toyota leads with 78 percent of current owners being most likely to consider buying another.
Supporting the perception and brand loyalty numbers, 24 percent of Americans are considering a Toyota for their next purchase. Trailing in popularity are Honda (17 percent), Chevrolet (15 percent), and Ford (13 percent).
Also of interest is that despite decades-long marketing efforts positioning BMW as a driver-centric performance brand, only five percent of respondents rated the German marque tops in that category.
Similarly, in the Technology/Innovation category, the low one-percent tally for Acura, Audi, and Infiniti does not fairly represent the accomplishments and offerings for those luxury brands.
