Ford Dethrones Toyota

[Coop]

Ford Dethrones Toyota as 2011 Harris Poll EquiTrend® Full Line Automotive Brand of the Year

Domestic brands grab the top two spots in the 2011 report; Mercedes-Benz ranks highest among Luxury Brands; Kia and Land Rover show largest brand perception improvement among consumers.
New York, N.Y. - March 22, 2011 - Continuing their steady climb back into the hearts and minds of consumers, domestic brands Ford and Chevrolet nabbed the top two spots in the 2011Harris Poll EquiTrend® study while last year's highest ranked brand, Toyota, fell to fourth in the rankings, behind Honda. The 2011 Harris Poll EquiTrend® Full Line Automotive Brand of the Year is awarded to the highest ranked brand in this category. Overall, awards are given in each of 46 different categories.

Mercedes-Benz ranked highest among Luxury Automotive brands and was named 2011 Harris Poll EquiTrend® Luxury Automotive Brand of the Year with last year's highest ranked company, Lexus ranked second, followed by BMW and Infiniti.

"Improved product among the domestic automotive manufacturers is clearly having a positive impact on consumers and their perceptions of Ford and Chevrolet," said Carol Gstalder, Senior Vice President of Business and Industrial Research at Harris Interactive. "Both award recipients - Ford and Mercedes-Benz - have faced recent challenges, but both have introduced strong new and redesigned products. The opportunity is sustaining this improvement in the face of increased competition."

Automakers that showed the greatest improvement included Kia, Land Rover, Acura and Audi. Hyundai and Subaru have also shown steady improvement each of the past four years.

"Traditionally strong automotive brands are being challenged by up and coming brands, Kia and Hyundai, that are offering strong value propositions with improving product quality," said Gstalder. "If the economy continues to remain stagnant and gas prices continue to rise, these brands will be positioned to increase their market share."

Additional automotive categories measured and awarded "Brand of the Year" include Automotive Service Centers (Good Year), Automotive Tire Brands (Michelin), Gasoline Retailers (Speedway Gasoline), Motor Oil (Pennzoil Motor Oil) and Motorcycles (Harley Davidson).



Methodology

The EquiTrend® study evaluates measures including: Equity, Consumer Connection, Commitment, Brand Behavior, Brand Advocacy, and Trust. The keystone to the program is Equity, which provides an understanding of a brand's overall strength and is determined by a calculation of Familiarity, Quality, and Purchase Consideration.

This year's Harris Poll EquiTrend® study was conducted online among 25,099 U.S. consumers ages 15 and over between January 11 and 27, 2011. A total 1,273 of brands were rated in 53 separate categories. Each respondent was asked to rate a total of 60 randomly selected brands. Each brand received approximately 1,000 ratings. Data were weighted to be representative of the entire U.S. population of consumers ages 15 and over on the basis of age sex, education, race/ethnicity, region, and income, and data from respondents ages 18 and over were also weighted for their propensity to be online.

[BondiBlue]

Booya. Take your full line of blandmobiles and gtfo, Toyota.

[f91]

Toyota = Automotive appliance, with all the panache that that implies.

[billnchristy]

I'm sure the government smear campaign had nothing to do with that.

Good to see Ford not only climbing back on top but also producing exciting cars and getting smart and bringing Euro treasures over...staying ahead will depend on reliability and economy.

[6769MOPARS]

Originally Posted by BondiBlue

Booya. Take your full line of blandmobiles and gtfo, Toyota.

Back to Japan you go, Toyota.

[billnchristy]

Originally Posted by 6769MOPARS

Back to Japan you go, Toyota.

With your American made cars!

[6769MOPARS]

Originally Posted by billnchristy

With your American made cars!

Final assembly. All the financial benefits go to Toyota in Japan.

[einre2005]

I always have a hard time distingushing Toyota models from each other....Ford's all carry a unique look between models.

Go Ford! Detroit Rock City! :-p

[billnchristy]

Originally Posted by 6769MOPARS

Final assembly. All the financial benefits go to Toyota in Japan.

I understand that, but you live around here so this should make sense to you.

We have a pretty good relationship with Japan and they provide a lot of useful products and technology to us.

We do not have a good relationship with Mexico, they supply us with drug cartels and some cars.

People are hostile to Japan, who employ thousands of American workers and build parts and cars in America with them (many Toyos and Hondas are 70% American parts).

People are not hostile to Ford who builds cars in Mexico with only 10% American parts.

It kind of confounds me why the hostility towards a (now) peaceful country that has a lot of contributions to the world vs. a non-peaceful country that does more resource leaching than anything constructive?

[f91]

Golly!! I wonder who buys the drugs?

Originally Posted by billnchristy

We do not have a good relationship with Mexico, they supply us with drug cartels and some cars.