Video Now Available: General Motors Tops in Polk Automotive Loyalty Awards POLK LOGO Polk logo. (PRNewsFoto)[JL] SOUTHFIELD, MI USA 01/04/2001
7 January 2001
Video Now Available: General Motors Tops in Polk Automotive Loyalty Awards POLK LOGO Polk logo. (PRNewsFoto)[JL] SOUTHFIELD, MI USA 01/04/2001
World's Largest Automaker Regains Top Spot in Overall Manufacturer Loyalty;
Ford Division Captures Most Model Awards
DETROIT, Jan. 7 The winners of the fifth annual Polk
Automotive Loyalty Awards were announced today at the North American
International Auto Show. The awards recognize manufacturers for superior
owner loyalty performance. General Motors recaptured the award for Overall
Manufacturer Loyalty and Ford won Overall Make Loyalty for the fifth
consecutive year. Automotive companies capturing a Polk Automotive Loyalty
Award for the 2000 model year were: Ford Division, Buick, Cadillac,
Chevrolet, Jeep, Porsche, Mercedes-Benz and Subaru.
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20010104/DETH036LOGO )
(Video: http://www.videonewswire.com/POLK/010701 )
Loyalty is determined by whether a new vehicle owning household purchases
a second car or a replacement that is either the same model as their current
vehicle or one manufactured by the same automaker. Polk research shows a
steady decline in overall manufacturer loyalty during the past five years from
56.9 percent during the 1996 model year to 54.1 percent during the 2000 model
year. As more automotive makes introduce new models to vie for greater share-
of-garage, Polk expects this trend to continue.
Polk Automotive Loyalty Award winners - 2000 Model year
Category Winner Loyalty % Avg. Loyalty %
for Category
Overall Awards:
Manufacturer Loyalty General Motors 64.8 54.1
Make Loyalty Ford Division * 58.6 42.8
Vehicle Segment Awards:
Small Car Ford Focus 31.8 17.8
Mid-Size Car Buick Century * 31.4 20.1
Large Car Buick LeSabre 41.1 26.9
Luxury Car Cadillac DeVille 42.4 20.5
Prestige Luxury Car Mercedes-Benz S 27.6 17.1
Class
Sports Car Porsche Boxster 20.5 10.7
Minivan Ford Windstar 29.0 16.8
Compact Pickup Truck# Ford Ranger 19.6 14.8
Full-Size Pickup Truck# Ford F-Series * 36.0 32.8
Compact SUV# Subaru Forester 18.2 11.3
Mid-Size SUV# Jeep Grand 26.4 20.1
Cherokee *
Full-Size SUV# Chevrolet Suburban 26.0 17.3
* 1999 Model Year Polk Automotive Loyalty Award Winner
# New or Revised Loyalty Award category for 2000 Model Year
GM and Ford Continue to Lead
Traditionally, Ford Motor Company and General Motors have led the industry
in owner loyalty. This year, in an aggressive effort to regain market share,
GM offered owner loyalty rebates encouraging customers to remain loyal. And
despite a slight decline in its loyalty percentage from 65.7 percent during
the 1999 model year to 64.8 percent during the 2000 model year, GM moved to
the number one spot. Ford Motor Company experienced a 3 percent drop since
the previous model year.
"As inventory has increased in the U.S. market during the past several
years, many manufacturers have been forced to use rebates to sell vehicles
while maintaining market share," said Karen Piurkowski, Polk's managing
director of loyalty. "This year, purchase rebates were higher than ever
before. It's difficult for a manufacturer to maintain loyalty within their
customer base while competitive makes are luring their customers away with
lower prices and comparable styling."
Diversity of Winners
While domestic manufacturers have traditionally dominated the Loyalty
Award categories in previous years, this year six manufacturers captured
awards, including three domestic, two European and one Asian manufacturer. Of
the 12 vehicle segment awards, only three went to repeat winners from the 1999
model year. The nature of the awards diversified, too. This year Polk
expanded the Pickup Truck and SUV award categories to include: Compact Pickup
Truck, Full-Size Pickup Truck, Compact SUV, Mid-Size SUV and Full-Size SUV.
Polk Manufacturer Loyalty Excelerator(TM) Report
Polk's Manufacturer Loyalty Excelerator(TM) report, which is the basis for
the Polk Automotive Loyalty rankings and annual awards, is the latest insight
into consumer loyalty. This report was introduced to the automotive industry
in 1995 and was created to provide household loyalty information to
manufacturers at many different levels. It is now used to provide loyalty
percentages for the entire automotive industry and allows for cross-industry
comparisons of loyalty behavior. The report measures loyalty throughout the
entire model year so that manufacturers may keep abreast of loyalty trends as
they occur in the industry.
About Polk
Polk has served the automotive industry for nearly 80 years and is the
longest standing curator of automobile records in the United States. Founded
in Detroit in 1870, Polk launched its motor vehicle statistical operations in
1922 when the first car registration reports were published. It now provides
automotive solutions to nearly every segment of the motor vehicle industry as
an analytical consultant and statistician, as a provider of database-marketing
services, as a supplier of vehicle histories and as a data enabler for
geographic information systems. Based in Southfield, Mich., Polk is a
privately held global firm, currently operating in Australia, Canada, China,
France, Germany, Holland, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States.