Motor Trader The award-winning and longest running UK magazine for car retailing professionals. Your first stop for News, Jobs and Reports for the motor industry.
JudgeService has named Volvo as the top carmaker in its brand loyalty rankings determined by its Car Brand Tracker which polls the views of 1,244 car owners.
The carmakers are ranked based on responses relating to how likely owners are to purchase the same make again. Responses featured premium, mainstream and budget brands.
Neil Addley, MD of JudgeService, said: “Premium and value brands are able to elicit satisfaction and recommendations; it is the middle ground brands that look likely to suffer.
“Car brands invest heavily in marketing campaigns to maintain awareness among buyers and our research reveals just how satisfied owners are after they have made a purchase.”
Volvo was followed by Land Rover, Dacia, Suzuki, Mini, Nissan, Toyota, Volkswagen, Skoda and Mazda.
Addley noted: “Brand loyalty is built on customer satisfaction with their vehicles and interactions with the franchised dealer looking after them.
“The best performing marques recognise just how precious a commodity loyalty is and the need to nurture it at every possible customer touchpoint through buy-in from their dealer partners.”
In terms of recommending brands to family and friends, Suzuki topped rankings. Volvo, Dacia, Nissan, Seat, Volkswagen, Mini, Toyota, Skoda and Mazda followed.
However, Ford led rankings in terms of brand awareness, followed by BMW, Audi, Mercedes-Benz and Toyota.
Addley said: “With the arrival of new entrant brands into the UK market it will be fascinating to see how the landscape changes.
“If a brand is not doing well in terms of awareness, loyalty or recommendation it needs to decide where it will set the battleground. If it comes down to a battle on price it is likely the new entrants will win.”