Polk Announces Second Annual Automotive Household Loyalty Awards
15 December 1997
Polk Announces Second Annual Automotive Household Loyalty Awards
Ford Wins Six of Nine Categories; GM Takes Manufacturer Honors
DETROIT, Dec. 15 -- Winners of the second annual Polk
Automotive Household Loyalty Awards were announced today with Ford Motor
Company emerging victorious in six of the nine categories. The awards
recognize top performing manufacturers in automotive household loyalty for the
1997 model year.
For the second consecutive year, Ford Motor Company, known for its wide
variety of model offerings in the car and light truck segments, and with a
focus on maintaining loyal customers, won six categories. New winners this
year included General Motors for the Overall Manufacturer Loyalty Award,
Toyota Camry for the Midsize Car Category, and Jeep Grand Cherokee for the
Sport Utility Vehicle Category.
The Awards are based on Polk's proprietary household loyalty methodology
which determines loyalty among households to a model, make or manufacturer.
Household Loyalty is measured by examining those new-vehicle owning households
who returned to market during the 1997 model year to purchase or lease a new
vehicle.
The winners of the Polk Automotive Household Loyalty Awards for the 1997
model year include:
Award Category Winner Loyalty % Avg. Segment
Loyalty %
Overall Awards:
Manufacturer Loyalty(1) General Motors 68.79% 56.91%
Make Loyalty Ford Division * 59.46% 44.26%
Model Awards:
Large Car Mercury Grand Marquis * 40.54% 27.74%
Midsize Car Toyota Camry 33.37% 19.56%
Small Car Ford Escort * 27.97% 17.67%
Luxury Car Lincoln Town Car * 44.85% 23.01%
Pickup Truck Ford F-Series * 34.51% 24.87%
Minivan Mercury Villager * 35.03% 20.63%
Sport Utility Vehicle Jeep Grand Cherokee 28.57% 21.81%
* - Repeat Winner from 1996 Awards
(1) Note: This is the first year for the Overall Manufacturer Loyalty
Award.
"General Motors has been very successful in maintaining loyal customers,"
said Karen Piurkowski, managing director of Polk's research products. "During
the 1997 model year, seven of 10 households owning a GM vehicle repurchased
another GM when entering the new vehicle market. By having such a wide
1 Note: This is the first year for the Overall Manufacturer Loyalty Award.
variety of models offered by all of its divisions, customers may move easily
from one make or model to another but overall they stay loyal to the GM
family. This 'ladder approach' of moving the customer from division to
division has been in place at General Motors since the 1950s."
Toyota Motor Corporation climbed to third place in the Overall
Manufacturer Loyalty ranking surpassing the Chrysler Corporation and marking
the first time an Asian Manufacturer placed in the top three for overall
manufacturer loyalty. "Toyota's top selling model, the Camry, not only
excelled in the number of vehicles sold this year, but also maintained the
highest customer loyalty rate in the midsize car category. This may have
been the biggest contributor to the upward movement of Toyota in the overall
Manufacturer Loyalty ranking," Piurkowski said.
Polk's Manufacturer Loyalty Excelerator(TM) product, which is the basis
for the Polk Automotive Household Loyalty Awards, provides the latest insight
into this type of consumer behavior.
The Ford Explorer slipped from first place this year in the SUV category
giving way to the Jeep Grand Cherokee. Glenn Forbes, Polk's vice president of
transportation business development, noted, "Our research shows that even
though Ford Explorer owners were less loyal to the model, they were more loyal
to Ford Division and Ford Motor Company. With the recent introduction of the
Ford Expedition in the SUV category, Ford is maintaining many of its Explorer
owners by moving them into a new Ford Expedition. Even though the Explorer
loyalty rate has decreased, the Ford Division market share has increased in
the SUV category.
"Jeep has built a strong brand image over the years, which helps to
explain why their owners were very loyal to the Grand Cherokee during the
model year," Forbes continued. "Chevrolet Suburban had the highest loyalty
within the SUV category at the end of the first nine months of the model year,
while Jeep Grand Cherokee took over first place during the last quarter. All
three SUV's -- the Jeep Grand Cherokee, Ford Explorer, and Chevrolet Suburban
-- should be recognized for their superior loyalty performance during the 1997
model year."
Polk's Manufacturer Loyalty Excelerator study was introduced to the
automotive industry in 1995 and was created to provide household loyalty
information to manufacturers at many different levels. This report is being
used to determine the awards; to provide loyalty percentages for the entire
automotive industry; to allow for cross-industry comparisons of loyalty
behavior; and to examine loyalty at various levels -- e.g. from the industry
level down to the vehicle line level. The study measures loyalty throughout
the entire model year so that manufacturers may keep abreast of loyalty trends
as they occur in the industry.
Polk has served the automotive industry for 75 years and is the longest
standing curator of automobile records in the United States. Founded in 1870,
Polk launched its motor statistical operations in 1922 when the first car
registration reports were published.
Polk provides multi-dimensional intelligence information solutions to
companies as a statistician for the motor vehicle industry; a direct marketing
resource; a supplier of demographic and lifestyle data and database marketing
services; a publisher of city directories; and a data enabler for geographic
information systems. Polk is a privately held firm with facilities around the
world including the United States, Canada, England, Germany and Barbados.
SOURCE Polk
