Vehicle loyalty rates rank high as consumers show love, Experian says

Experian Automotive announced the latest vehicle loyalty rates, with Subaru leading all brands and manufacturers – 67.7 percent of consumers who own a Subaru return to buy another Subaru. Additionally, Ford is at the top among multibrand 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 last 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.

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.

From a model perspective, loyalty rates cut across the luxury and nonluxury spectrum. The top four are luxury brands — Land Rover Range Rover, Mercedes-Benz S Class, Lincoln MKZ and Mercedes-Benz 2500 Sprinter Van. Nonluxury models in the top 10 include the Nissan Leaf (fifth), Dodge Ram 1500 (sixth), Hyundai Genesis (eighth), Kia Soul (ninth) and Subaru Forester (10th).

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.

Subscribe to Aftermarket Business World and receive articles like this every month….absolutely free. Click here.