Ever since Japanese automakers began selling their endlessly-reliable and durable cars in the US (and around the world), domestic manufacturers began losing millions of sales. The trend had been going on for many years, but it seems that the Big Three US automakers are on the rebound in their home market.
According to Experian Automotive, Ford leads the way in customer loyalty in the States. The Dublin-based research institute says that in the fourth quarter of 2012, 47.9 percent of people who were looking for a new vehicle bought either a Ford or a Lincoln (probably not an MKZ, though).
“Ford has developed extremely loyal customers across a wide range of vehicles,” said Jeffrey Anderson, director of consulting and analytics for Experian Automotive. “Customer loyalty will always be a very important barometer of automotive sales success.”
While the Blue Oval has registered the most promising numbers, GM and Chrysler are not far behind. In fact, GM is ahead of Toyota, with 47.7 percent loyalty, versus the Japanese brand’s 46.9 percent.
This waking up of the American automakers is said to increase their share of the small and mid-size car segments to around 33 percent, according to researcher LMC Automotive.
When it comes to loyalty towards a specific model, Ford leads the way again, with eight of the top ten favorite cars – the other two are the Chevy Sonic from GM and the Kia Forte Sedan. The study also shows that 60% of Ford Fusion owners bought another Ford-branded vehicle as their next car.
By Andrei Nedelea
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