J.D. Power: COVID-19 made drivers more brand-loyal
The results of this influential organization's brand loyalty study are out, and the results are surprising.
There aren't many facets of life COVID-19 hasn't impacted. From travel and dining habits, to how people interact with others, so much is different than it was just a year and a half or so ago. Of course, there have been huge changes in the automotive business during this time, though surprisingly, according to J.D. Power, the pandemic has actually made drivers more loyal to manufacturers of vehicles they already own.
On Thursday, the influential organization released its 2021 brand-loyalty study, which according to J.D. Power, "measures the percentage of vehicle buyers who choose to purchase the same brand of vehicle they are trading in." The good news for car companies is that the pandemic has increased loyalty as drivers lean on relationships they already have with dealerships and put more trust in familiar brands.
So, how did major automakers do? Well, for the third consecutive year, Subaru topped the charts with a rating of 61.8%. The other mainstream brands that landed in the top five include Toyota (61.1%), Honda (59.3%), Ram (56.8%) and Ford (53.9%).
Lexus did very well in this J.D. Power study.
As for premium marques, Lexus came in first at 51.6%. Then it was Porsche (50.2%), Mercedes-Benz (47%), BMW (45.6%) and Audi (45.5%). The brands that improved the most were Acura and Mazda. The former increased by 7.1%, the latter by 5.9%.
Why did loyalty improve? Well, sometimes it was impossible to visit a dealer in the last 18 months, so customers ordered online or made remote purchases. It seems they'd rather conduct business with dealerships and brands they're already familiar with opposed to trying something new.
This is the third year J.D. Power has published its US Automotive Brand Loyalty Study. The results of this research include all vehicles traded in by drivers as well. Transaction data is from June 2020 to May 2021.
