Honda, Toyota Judged Top Automakers in Overall Brand Loyalty by Polk

Honda and Toyota swept five of six overall brand loyalty categories in the 2009 annual study of American consumer habits conducted by L. Polk & Company. The international group's 14th Annual Automotive Loyalty Awards were presented in Southfield, Mich., this year at the Automotive News World Congress held during Detroit's North American International Auto Show.

Honda won three of the six Polk Awards for overall brand loyalty: Overall Loyalty to Make (54.86pct) and a pair of new ethnic loyalty-to-make categories – Hispanic (54.97pct) and African American.(56.58pct).

Toyota earned the highest Overall Loyalty to Manufacturer (58.60pct) and topped the Asian loyalty-to-make category (52.03pct). In addition the giant automaker led two of the 10 vehicle segment award categories for loyalty to make: Prius won the Mid-/Full-Sized Cars with 35.85pct, while the Lexus RX's 37.29pct loyalty rating topped the Mid-/Full-Sized SUVs

The Polk Award for sixth overall category - Most Improved Loyalty to Make - went to Audi which increased brand loyalty by 4.9 percentage points among U.S. car buyers during 2009.

Ford also took two vehicle segment awards: Mid-/Full-Sized Pickup with its dominant F-Series (35.81pct) and the highly competitive Sports Car category with the iconic Mustang (16.30pct).

BMW duplicated Ford's two-win effort. The 3-Series (32.28pct) led the Luxury Cars while the MINI Cooper (28.88pct) was dearest to the hearts of Compact Car owners.

The remaining four loyalty-to-make segment awards went to icons: the Porsche 911 (Luxury Sports Car, 24.97pct); the Range Rover / Land Rover (Luxury SUV, 30.42pct); the Chrysler Town & Country (Minivan, 31.70pct); and the Subaru Forester (Compact SUV, 35.44pct).

The Polk Manufacturer Loyalty Excelerator Report, is the basis for the annual Polk Automotive Loyalty Awards. This report was introduced to the automotive industry in 1995 and was created to provide the latest insights into U.S. household consumer loyalty to automotive manufacturers at many different levels. It is now used to provide loyalty percentages for the entire industry.