U.S. News Best Cars Announces the 2016 Best Vehicle Brands

Winners: Mazda, Honda, Ford and Porsche

WASHINGTON - November 12, 2015: U.S. News & World Report today announced winners of the 2016 Best Vehicle Brand Awards. The awards recognize the brands whose vehicles perform the best on an overall basis within four major categories of the U.S. News vehicle rankings: Cars, SUVs, Trucks and Luxury.

This year, Mazda wins the award for Best Car Brand, earning positive reviews for the well-made interiors and athletic driving dynamics of its lineup. This includes the 2016 Mazda3, currently tied for No. 1 in the U.S. News Compact Car rankings, and the 2016 Mazda Miata, currently No. 1 in the Sports Car rankings.

Honda takes the 2016 Best SUV Brand award, impressing reviewers with the utility, interior comfort and family-friendly features of its SUVs. Honda's SUV lineup includes the newly redesigned Honda Pilot, Honda CR-V and the new Honda HR-V, all of which rank at or near the top of their classes: Midsize SUVs, Compact SUVs and Subcompact SUVs, respectively.

Ford earns the 2016 Best Truck Brand award for the strength of the Ford F-150. The Ford F-150 continues to lead the evolution of Pickup Trucks, adding high-tech connectivity features, fuel-saving engine and chassis features, as well as a dose of luxury for buyers.

Porsche wins the 2016 Best Luxury Brand award. In recent years Porsche has expanded its lineup to include the Panamera, a Luxury Large Car, as well as the Cayenne and Macan SUVs. Reviewers say the new models live up to the performance aspect of Porsche's brand heritage and impress consumers with opulent interiors and the connectivity features that today's luxury buyer demands.

"The U.S. News Best Vehicle Brands convey quality, experience and credibility, and can ease purchasing decisions when shopping for a vehicle," says Jamie Page Deaton, managing editor of Best Cars at U.S. News. "Consumers have an overwhelming number of factors to consider when comparing cars. These awards help to simplify one part of the shopping experience by highlighting the top brands in specific vehicle categories."

2016 Best Vehicle Brand Award Winners

The Best Vehicle Brands methodology uses the combined overall scores from the U.S. News Best Cars rankings across all models in each of the award classes. The overall rankings score is based on an analysis of published, credible reviews of a given model from the automotive press, as well as safety and reliability data.