January 2007
Brand leaders
It is hard for automotive brands to stand out, as this study reveals. Among the 30 brands cited during interviews, only the
top five brands were named tops across the six areas by at least 20 percent of the consumers.
Those results suggest that advertising budgets, sales volumes, the size of the dealer network, and established owner base are all factors in sustaining the largest-volume brands. In other words, success would seem to breed success.
Toyota dominated the study, earning the top position in more than half of the six brand-attribute categories. Thirty seven percent of interviewees named it as the best in at least one category. That performance provides insight into how Toyota has evolved into such a universal powerhouse. Toyota projects 9.34 million vehicle sales worldwide for 2007, up 6 percent over 2006. And many analysts say that Toyota will eventually replace General Motors as "the world's largest automaker," a position that GM has held for more than 75 years. While there are many reasons for this power shift, Consumer Reports' first Brand Report Card survey shows that consumers hold Toyota in the highest regard for most key categories, and their interest in Toyota products could fuel even greater sales in the years ahead.
In total, Toyota topped four of the six categories and trailed Ford in Design/Style by only a single percentage point. The only category in which the Japanese industrial giant was significantly behind the top brand was in Safety, where Volvo claimed top honors with a significant 10-percent point advantage--the greatest first-to-second-place margin recorded in all categories.
After the top five, the next five ranking brands overall (Mercedes-Benz, Lexus, GMC, BMW, Chrysler) each had impressed consumers enough to result in 12-15 percent naming them as leading a category. But individual category scores were all in the single digits.
Those results suggest that advertising budgets, sales volumes, the size of the dealer network, and established owner base are all factors in sustaining the largest-volume brands. In other words, success would seem to breed success.
Toyota dominated the study, earning the top position in more than half of the six brand-attribute categories. Thirty seven percent of interviewees named it as the best in at least one category. That performance provides insight into how Toyota has evolved into such a universal powerhouse. Toyota projects 9.34 million vehicle sales worldwide for 2007, up 6 percent over 2006. And many analysts say that Toyota will eventually replace General Motors as "the world's largest automaker," a position that GM has held for more than 75 years. While there are many reasons for this power shift, Consumer Reports' first Brand Report Card survey shows that consumers hold Toyota in the highest regard for most key categories, and their interest in Toyota products could fuel even greater sales in the years ahead.
In total, Toyota topped four of the six categories and trailed Ford in Design/Style by only a single percentage point. The only category in which the Japanese industrial giant was significantly behind the top brand was in Safety, where Volvo claimed top honors with a significant 10-percent point advantage--the greatest first-to-second-place margin recorded in all categories.
|
Highest rank for category |
||||
| Category |
Brand |
Leadership percentage |
||
|
Design/Style |
Ford |
10% |
||
|
Performance |
Toyota |
13 |
||
|
Quality |
Toyota |
19 |
||
|
Safety |
Volvo |
23 |
||
|
Technology/Innovation |
Toyota |
18 |
||
|
Value |
Toyota |
17 |
||
After the top five, the next five ranking brands overall (Mercedes-Benz, Lexus, GMC, BMW, Chrysler) each had impressed consumers enough to result in 12-15 percent naming them as leading a category. But individual category scores were all in the single digits.
|
Overall brand perception |
||||
| Brand |
Leadership percentage |
Highest category |
Category percentage |
|
|
Mercedes-Benz |
15% |
Technology/Innovation |
6% |
|
|
Lexus |
14 |
Technology/Innovation |
7 |
|
|
GMC |
13 |
Performance |
6 |
|
|
BMW |
12 |
Performance |
5 |
|
|
Chrysler |
12 |
Design/Style |
8 |
|
