Fall 2010 ALG Perceived Quality Study Demonstrates Rebound of Toyota's Quality Image

Toyota jumps from 6th to 2nd place, but still trails Honda by wide margin among mainstream brands

Mercedes-Benz continues to lead luxury brands

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Nov 01, 2010, 07:30 ET

SANTA BARBARA, Calif., Nov. 1, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- ALG, a subsidiary of DealerTrack Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: TRAK) and the industry benchmark provider of residual values and depreciation data, today announced that Toyota's Perceived Quality Score (PQS) registered a sharp 5% increase in the last six months, with the carmaker bouncing back to second place from sixth among mainstream brands in ALG's Fall 2010 Perceived Quality Study. Dodge Cars (up 4%) and Jeep (up 3%) were the other two mainstream brands that showed the most improvement over their Spring 2010 scores. Among luxury brands, Jaguar notched a 5% gain, although its PQS remains relatively low at 62.4.

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With a PQS of 81.4 and a 10.7 point lead over Toyota (70.7), Honda continued its dominance over all other mainstream brands. The third, fourth and fifth-place brands – Ford Trucks (69.9), Nissan (69.0) and Subaru (68.9) – are tightly bunched behind Toyota.

Mercedes-Benz again was the top-ranked luxury brand with a PQS of 83.9, slightly increasing its lead over runner-up Lexus in the last six months, which remained steady with an 81.9 PQS. BMW (81.6), Porsche (80.2) and Acura (77.4) rounded out the top five in the luxury category.

"The significant recovery for Toyota, which saw a dramatic 20% PQS drop in Spring 2010 due to quality issues and massive recalls, can be attributed to marketing around vehicle safety, strong customer loyalty and good service," said Eric Lyman, OEM Practice Director at ALG. "At Jaguar, recent design transitions have fostered a stronger emotional connection with the consumer, leading to an improvement in the perception of the brand."

Since the inception of ALG's PQS in the Spring of 2008, the biggest gains have been achieved by Ford Cars, Ford Trucks, Hyundai, Kia and Jaguar, respectively. The biggest declines in PQS over that period have been registered by Toyota, Saturn, Saab, Lexus and Scion, respectively.

ALG's PQS measures consumers' perceptions and beliefs about the quality of automobile brands in the U.S. market. A negative perception about a brand can prevent shopping and consideration of a brand's complete model lineup. Alternatively, a positive belief about a brand can sometimes overcome poor quality. Working with survey partner Zogby International, ALG calculates the scores based on a proprietary rating scale derived from surveys of car and truck owners, which then are used to determine the relative positions of mainstream and luxury brands. The complete list with scores is available at http://www.alg.com/pdf/pqs_2010_fall.pdf.

About ALG (www.alg.com)

Based in Santa Barbara, California, ALG is a leading provider of data and consulting services to the automotive industry. ALG publishes the "Automotive Lease Guide" – the standard for Residual Value projections in North America, and has been forecasting automotive residual values for over 45 years in both the U.S. and Canadian markets. ALG is a part of DealerTrack Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: TRAK).

About DealerTrack (www.dealertrack.com)

DealerTrack's intuitive and high-value software solutions enhance efficiency and profitability for all major segments of the automotive retail industry, including dealers, lenders, OEMs, agents and aftermarket providers. Our solution set for dealers is the industry's most comprehensive. DealerTrack operates the industry's largest online credit application network, connecting more than 17,000 dealers with over 900 lenders. Our Dealer Management System (DMS) provides dealers with easy-to-use tools and real-time data access that will streamline any automotive business. Dealers using DealerTrack AAX get the inventory management tools and services needed to accelerate turns and increase profits. Our Sales and F&I solution enables dealers to streamline the entire sales process while structuring all types of deals from a single integrated platform. DealerTrack's Compliance solution helps dealers meet legal and regulatory requirements and protect their hard-earned assets. DealerTrack's family of companies also includes data and consulting services providers ALG and Chrome Systems. For more information, visit www.dealertrack.com.

Safe Harbor for Forward-Looking and Cautionary Statements

Statements in this press release regarding ALG's Perceived Quality Study, including its uses, and all other statements in this release other than the recitation of historical facts are forward-looking statements (as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995). These statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements of DealerTrack to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.

Factors that might cause such a difference include the reliability of the survey data, the sample size, changes in consumer opinions and other risks listed in our reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009. These filings can be found on DealerTrack's website at www.dealertrack.com and the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. Forward-looking statements included herein speak only as of the date hereof and DealerTrack disclaims any obligation to revise or update such statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events or circumstances.

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SOURCE ALG