A Year Of Change Shows Just Who Is Gaining In Consumer Favor And Who Is Losing It

The year 2009 will forever standout in automotive history as the year that saw Detroit car companies humbled and the entire industry struggle to survive an imploding global economy. Through the challenges, automaker fortunes changed, as did consumers' brand perception.

Toyota has again topped the latest annual Consumer Reports Brand Perception Survey, based on how consumers perceive each brand in seven categories: Safety, quality, value, performance, design/style, technology/innovation, and environmentally friendly/green. Being recognized as a perceived leader in many of those categories, Toyota at 196 points scored 55 points higher than the second-ranked brand, Ford with 141 points.

Despite the continued dominance by the Toyota brand, the landscape shifted this past year. The greatest increase in brand perception scores were seen with Chevrolet, Ford, and Subaru. These brands made tremendous advances in how they are viewed by consumers, each gaining at least 30 points over the previous year.

Winners		Losers
Brand	Score change	Brand	Score change
Subaru	+39	Lincoln	-25
Ford	+32	Infiniti	-21
Chevrolet	+30	Cadillac	-15
Suzuki	+12	Lexus	-15
Audi	+11	Porsche	-13

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Whelan - 1/7/2010 12:08:16 PM

+1 Boost

I can speak for some of the negative brands.

Lincoln - has not had any exciting or new products, each one is being left to sit idle. The MK nameplates are so lost that I could'nt tell you if the MKZ or the MKT was the small SUV. Or is that MKS?

Infiniti - the G37 was nicely done, the new FX looks out of place compared to it's last generation. The new M is not out yet, and the G37 got some sheetmetal fixes and a nice price bump without justification.

Cadillac - The CTS is a great car, but where is the new DTS, a new two door coupe needs to come soon. And the SRX used to be a larger crossover comparable to a Pacifica or Chevy Traverse. Now it is a Chevy Equinox upgrade for thousands more? The SRX should have stayed large and been based off the Traverse, and another small SUV off the Equinox should have been named something different.

Lexus - The IS is agine, the GS is never marketed, and the ES is a glorified Camry still. They haven't done much to make their brand stand out in the styling department from the looks. So many companies make an RX competitor nowadays so they no longer own the market. The SC430 is beyond retirement, much like it's owners. And the IS-C is way out of it's league in price. Not to mention Toyota's recent run on recalls and lawsuits.

Porsche - Ah Porsche, the Cayenne needs it's update yesterday. And the Panamera is getting high press, but that's about it. Other than that, they keep trying to gain marketshare with companies instead of cars. Focus on your product, it's the main source of your profit.

VISO - 1/7/2010 9:41:06 PM

+1 Boost

Didn't know Audi was not a luxury brand.