In the contest to dominate the rankings for automobile brand loyalty, Toyota used to be "neck and neck" with Ford and Chevrolet.
Key takeaway: used to be.
A recent S&P Global Mobility survey showed, and Automotive News reports, that among mainstream auto brands for the first four months of this year, Toyota fell to seventh place in the rankings, with Ford and Chevy topping the list.
One reason for the drop, according to analyst Tom Libby of the market research firm, is a migration of customers to electric vehicles, primarily to Tesla.
In fact, Tesla again topped the loyalty ranking for luxury brands, at 68%, 18.8 points above BMW in second place. Mercedes-Benz, Lexus and Cadillac rounded out the top five. With no other luxury brand above 50%, Tesla is the only one that is keeping more customers than it is losing, Libby said.
In his webinar remarks, Libby also suggested that Tesla's loyalty effect is so pronounced that it is up 1.1 points despite not having released a new vehicle since 2020. He added that, although EV sales remain small for many brands, "there's no doubt that Toyota, Honda and some other Asian brands are being impacted tremendously by Tesla."
Regarding the mainstream segment, Libby reported that Ford recorded 59.5% brand loyalty this year through April, followed by Chevrolet, at 57.1%, and then by Subaru, Nissan, Kia and Hyundai. Toyota was down 5.7 points from the same time last year to 52.3%.
Though Ford topped the ranking, the brand essentially matched its loyalty from the same time last year, while Chevrolet was up 2.6 points.
"We will obviously have to watch the results going forward, but just in these first four months, Toyota is a disappointment," he said.
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