Experian Automotive: Vehicle loyalty rates rank high as consumers show the love

SCHAUMBURG, Ill., Jan. 5, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Experian Automotive today announced the latest vehicle loyalty rates, with Subaru leading all brands and manufacturers — 67.7 percent of consumers who own a Subaru return to buy another Subaru. Additionally, Ford is at the top among multibrand manufacturers, with 67.5 percent of consumers who own a Ford remaining loyal to the Ford family when purchasing a new vehicle.

"It's exciting to see that manufacturers' efforts to improve owner loyalty are working," said Brad Smith, director of automotive statistics and consulting, Experian. "Over the last few years, loyalty rates have increased, and these improvements are key to the industry. Understanding rates of consumer loyalty among vehicle brands, makes and models helps to drive better business decisions, such as a dealer selecting inventory and targeting advertising or a manufacturer making adjustments to a vehicle's design and creating more competitive promotional strategies."

The analysis looked at nearly 6.8 million household repurchase events that occurred between October 2014 and September 2015. From a manufacturer perspective, Subaru, Ford, Toyota and GM hold the top four spots for loyalty, with only 0.5 percentage points separating them. The full top 10 is listed below.

When looking at brand loyalty, Subaru and Ford top the list. However, while Mercedes-Benz comes in third overall, it ranks first for luxury brands, with 65.1 percent of owners remaining loyal to Mercedes-Benz.

From a model perspective, loyalty rates cut across the luxury and nonluxury spectrum. The top four are luxury brands — Land Rover Range Rover, Mercedes-Benz S Class, Lincoln MKZ and Mercedes-Benz 2500 Sprinter Van. Nonluxury models in the top 10 include the Nissan Leaf (fifth), Dodge Ram 1500 (sixth), Hyundai Genesis (eighth), Kia Soul (ninth) and Subaru Forester (10th).

Other findings:

• North Dakota is the most loyal state, with 67.2 percent of owners remaining loyal to their brands. Michigan (66.4 percent) and Iowa (65.8 percent) round out the top three states with the most brand loyal consumers.
• Consumers who lease are more loyal to their brands, with 69 percent remaining loyal to a brand, compared with 56.9 percent of consumers with loans.
• Individuals with captive finance contracts (Ford Credit, Toyota Financial, etc.) are more brand loyal, with 63.8 percent repurchasing the same brand, compared with 58 percent of consumers with loans from independent banks.

About Experian Automotive
Experian Automotive provides information services and market intelligence that enables results-driven professionals to gain the fullest possible understanding of the market, the vehicles and the people who buy them. Its North American Vehicle Database^SM houses data on nearly 700 million vehicles and, when combined with Experian's credit, consumer and business information, provides an integrated perspective into the automotive marketplace. Experian Automotive's AutoCheck^® vehicle history reports provide dealers and consumers with in-depth information, allowing them to confidently understand, compare and select the right vehicles. For more information on Experian Automotive and its suite of services, visit our Website at http://www.experian.com/automotive.

About Experian
We are the leading global information services company, providing data and analytical tools to our clients around the world. We help businesses to manage credit risk, prevent fraud, target marketing offers and automate decision making.

We also help people to check their credit report and credit score, and protect against identity theft. In 2015, we were named by Forbes magazine as one of the "World's Most Innovative Companies."

We employ approximately 17,000 people in 38 countries and our corporate headquarters are in Dublin, Ireland, with operational headquarters in Nottingham, UK; California, US; and Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Experian plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange (EXPN) and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 index. Total revenue for the year ended March 31, 2015, was US$4.8 billion.

To find out more about our company, please visit http://www.experianplc.com or watch our documentary, "Inside Experian."

Experian and the Experian marks used herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of Experian Information Solutions, Inc. Other product and company names mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.

Contact:
Roslyn Whitehurst
Experian Public Relations
1 714 830 5578
[email protected]
Twitter: @RozWhitehurst

SOURCE Experian Automotive

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http://www.experianautomotive.com