Ford continues to lead in automotive brand loyalty

By John LeBlanc As the old marketing axiom goes, it costs a lot less to keep a customer than win a new one, and America’s Ford continues to lead in keeping its customers coming back to its showrooms. According to the U.S.-based Polk research firm, for the fist three months of 2013, Ford continues to win back customers with a brand loyalty rate of 65.1 per cent among new vehicle owners — the best in the industry. Toyota ranked second at 58.5 per cent, with Honda coming in third spot with a 57 per cent score. Chevrolet (56.2 per cent), and Mercedes-Benz and Nissan (tied at 55.9 per cent) rounded out the top six brands. There always has to be losers in these types of reports. And sitting at the bottom of the surveyed brands was Mazda at 37 per cent. However, that’s a 7.8 per cent improvement from Polk’s rating from the first quarter of 2012. For the first quarter of 2013, the industry’s brand loyalty average was 51.5 per cent; up 2.6 per cent from a year ago. Polk generates the scores on a monthly basis based on U.S. new vehicle sales. While the news is fodder for public relations departments for the top-ranked brands like Ford, Polk says the “fact-based analysis helps OEMs, dealers, marketers and ad agencies improve owner retention strategies, business planning and conquesting activities in the automotive marketplace.” Beyond the top and bottom rankings, Polk noted that thirteen brands experienced a larger jump in owner loyalty than the industry average compared to the first quarter 2012, with Porsche, Cadillac and the aforementioned Mazda representing the three largest quarter-to-quarter improvements. “In each case, strong-selling models fuel the loyalty to these brands. We saw a majority of the contribution for brand loyalty coming from Cayenne owners for Porsche, CTS owners for Cadillac and Mazda3 owners for Mazda,” said Lonnie Miller, vice president of Polk’s Loyalty Management practice in a statement. Source: Polk

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