Brand loyalty for new vehicle owners rates very well among customers as 13 brands experienced larger loyalty jumps than the industry average in the first quarter of 2013, according to a report by automotive information and marketing solutions provider Polk.
In its analysis of repeat buying behavior during the first quarter, Polk found that average new vehicle brand loyalty rates rose to 51.5% -- an increase of more than 2% compared to the first quarter 2012.
What’s more, a total of 13 brands experienced a larger jump in owner loyalty than the industry average compared to the first quarter 2012 -- with Porsche, Cadillac, and Mazda leading the way with the largest improvements, according to Polk.
Among brands with at least 1,000 former new vehicle buyers returning to the U.S. market in the first quarter, Porsche owner loyalty improved 9.5 percentage points. Cadillac continued its owner loyalty improvement over 2012 with an uptick of 8.3 percentage points over the same period last year, while Mazda was the third most improved for the quarter, as the brand improved its owner loyalty 7.8 percentage points during the first quarter of 2013.
"In each case, strong-selling models fuel the loyalty to these brands,” Lonnie Miller, Vice President of Polk’s Loyalty Management Practice, said in a press release. “We saw a majority of the contribution for brand loyalty coming from Cayenne owners for Porsche, CTS owners for Cadillac and Mazda3 owners for Mazda. There's something to be said for paying positive attention to the majority of your customer base while treating buyers professionally and continuing to meet or exceed their vehicle needs."
Here are some other brands and their respective owner loyalty improvements (by percentage points) in the first quarter of 2013, compared to the first quarter 2012: BMW (7.0); Lexus (6.4); GMC (5.7); Buick (5.3); Land Rover (4.3); Audi (3.6); Toyota (3.4); Ford (3.3); Chevrolet (3.1); and Mercedes-Benz (3.0).
The industry average increase was 2.6.
Ford continued it overall brand loyalty leadership. According to Polk, Ford leads the industry with an overall brand loyalty rate of 65.1% among new vehicle owners who returned to market during the first quarter 2013. Toyota brand loyalty was more than 6 percentage points behind Ford with a 58.5% loyalty rate followed by Honda (57%); Chevrolet (56.2%), and Mercedes and Nissan (each at 55.9%).
"Automakers take customer loyalty seriously,” Miller added. “Polk continues to work with them on both measurement and improvement plans in order to help dealer and corporate personnel understand what share of their total sales should come from repeat buyers versus newly acquired customers."