Automotive brand loyalty substantially weakened over the past years as customers struggle to locate the vehicle they desire at dealerships. Fortunately, inventory has now started to recover. However, brand loyalty remains weak.
“The industry is in this funk and has not been able to really start on an upward trend to get back to where it was in 2019.”
Tom Libby, S&P Global Mobility’s loyalty solutions and industry analysis associate director, said in a recent webinar
Brand loyalty (January to April 2023)
Legacy automaker General Motors gained the highest brand loyalty of 63.8% in the mainstream category, owing to its wide range of portfolio: Chevrolet, Cadillac, GMC, and Buick. Ford, Hyundai and Toyota followed GM, all with more than 50% of their households staying loyal, WardsAuto reported.
As for luxury, Tesla unsurprisingly fared best in maintaining owner loyalty. What’s remarkable is Tesla was the only brand that demonstrated a strong reputation among its customers, gaining 68% brand loyalty. As InsideEVs noted, brand loyalty in this segment is not as prevalent as before.
“In the luxury brand segment, in the first four months of the year, fewer than half of households bought the same brand when they returned to market.”
WardsAuto’s Alysha Webb
As per the report, BMW households switched to the Musk-led automaker this year to date, indicating a YoY increase of 6.8%.
Lexus also suffered, losing 7.2% of its customers to Tesla, up from 5.8% in 2022. German legacy automaker Mercedes-Benz also had 8.9% of its customers choose Tesla this year thus far, up from 7.8% last year.
Land Rover also saw 4.8% of its customers shift to Tesla this YTD. However, this percentage slightly dropped from 6.1% in 2022.
See Also:
- Toyota’s brand loyalty slips amidst growing influence of Tesla
- Tesla ends Ford’s 12-year reign in US Brand Loyalty
- Tesla is good at winning customers and retaining their brand loyalty
- JD Power loyalty report is overtaken by Japanese and German brands
- Tesla is the most searched auto brand in the US, Google data shows
Tesla’s strong reputation among its customers is truly remarkable, given that the automaker has not yet launched a new EV since the popular Model Y in early 2020. Its portfolio did not change (a high-end sedan and crossover and a mainstream sedan and crossover), but the company revised all its products in the past years.
All that said, it would be interesting to see how Tesla’s influence over other luxury brands in the years to come.
