Experian Automotive has announced the latest vehicle loyalty rates, with Subaru leading all brands and manufacturers, such that 67.7 percent of consumers who own a Subaru return to buy another Subaru. In addition, Ford is at the top among multi-brand manufacturers, with 67.5 percent of consumers who own a Ford remaining loyal to the Ford family when purchasing a new vehicle.
“It’s exciting to see that manufacturers’ efforts to improve owner loyalty are working,” said Brad Smith, director of automotive statistics and consulting, Experian. “Over the past few years, loyalty rates have increased, and these improvements are key to the industry. Understanding rates of consumer loyalty among vehicle brands, makes and models helps to drive better business decisions, such as a dealer selecting inventory and targeting advertising or a manufacturer making adjustments to a vehicle’s design and creating more competitive promotional strategies.”
The analysis looked at nearly 6.8 million household repurchase events that occurred between October 2014 and September 2015. From a manufacturer perspective, Subaru, Ford, Toyota and GM hold the top four spots for loyalty, with only 0.5 percentage points separating them. The full top 10 is listed below.
Manufacturer Loyalty Top 10 Loyalty Rate:
• Subaru 67.7 percent
• Ford 67.5 percent
• Toyota 67.3 percent
• GM 67.2 percent
• Fiat Chrysler 65.5 percent
• Daimler 64.9 percent
• Kia 63.2 percent
• Honda 61.3 percent
• Hyundai 61.3 percent
• Nissan 61.2 percent
When looking at brand loyalty, Subaru and Ford top the list. However, while Mercedes-Benz comes in third overall, it ranks first for luxury brands, with 65.1 percent of owners remaining loyal to Mercedes-Benz.
Brand Loyalty Top 10 Loyalty Rate:
• Subaru 67.7 percent
• Ford 66.7 percent
• Mercedes-Benz 65.1 percent
• Toyota 63.5 percent
• Kia 63.2 percent
• Hyundai 61.3 percent
• Nissan 61.1 percent
• Chevrolet 60.7 percent
• Lexus 60.7 percent
• Honda 59.9 percent
From a model perspective, loyalty rates cut across the luxury and non-luxury spectrum. The top four are luxury brands — Land Rover Range Rover, Mercedes-Benz S Class, Lincoln MKZ and Mercedes-Benz 2500 Sprinter Van. Non-luxury models in the top 10 include the Nissan Leaf (fifth), Dodge Ram 1500 (sixth), Hyundai Genesis (eighth), Kia Soul (ninth) and Subaru Forester (10th).
Model Loyalty Top 10 Loyalty Rate:
• Land Rover Range Rover 48.2 percent
• Mercedes-Benz S Class 46.6 percent
• Lincoln MKZ 44.8 percent
• Mercedes-Benz 2500 Sprinter Van 44.8 percent
• Nissan Leaf 44 percent
• Ram 1500 42.9 percent
• Lexus RX 350 42.7 percent
• Hyundai Genesis 42.5 percent
• Kia Soul 42 percent
• Subaru Forester 41.1 percent
Other findings:
• North Dakota is the most loyal state, with 67.2 percent of owners remaining loyal to their brands. Michigan (66.4 percent) and Iowa (65.8 percent) round out the top three states with the most brand loyal consumers.
• Consumers who lease are more loyal to their brands, with 69 percent remaining loyal to a brand, compared with 56.9 percent of consumers with loans.
• Individuals with captive finance contracts (Ford Credit, Toyota Financial, etc.) are more brand-loyal, with 63.8 percent repurchasing the same brand, compared with 58 percent of consumers with loans from independent banks.
