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.

PR Newswire

NEW YORK, March 22, 2011

NEW YORK--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 2011 Harris 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 (Goodyear), 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 of 1,273 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.