Toyota Still Perceived As Best Car

Consumer Reports has released its latest Car Brand Perception Survey (done about a month ago) and it contained a mild surprise.   Even though the company was plagued by acceleration problems and received a lot of bad publicity in the last year because of that (and some other problems), Toyota once again finished in first place.   It is perceived by consumers as the best overall car brand.

The 1,721 car owners participating in the survey rated car brands in the following categories (and the category ratings were added together to get an aggregate score):
Safety
Quality
Value
Performance
Design/Style
Technology/Innovation
Environmentally friendly/Green

It looks like Toyota can thank its Prius Hybrid for the company staying in first place.   Toyota was far ahead of all other brands in the Environmentally friendly/Green category, scoring a 47 in that category.   Ford was in second place with a score of only 18.

Ford was the big winner in the survey, having vaulted itself into second place -- only three points behind Toyota.   Honda finished in third place -- twenty-three points behind Ford.   Here are the top ten and bottom ten brands in the Consumer Reports survey:

TOP TEN
Toyota..........147
Ford..........144
Honda..........121
Chevrolet..........102
BMW..........93
Mercedes-Benz..........90
Volvo..........84
Lexus..........69
Cadillac..........66
Subaru..........50

BOTTOM TEN
Isuzu..........2
Suzuki..........5
Mitsubishi..........8
Land Rover..........9
Saab..........10
Jaguar..........13
Mercury..........14
Jeep..........16
Mini..........19
Volkswagen..........19

It looks like a car being environmentally friendly is not that great a selling point right now though.   When the survey participants were asked what brand they are considering buying when they replace their current car, two American brands finished in the top two places.   Here are those percentages:
Ford..........18%
Chevrolet..........13%
Toyota..........12%
Honda..........10%

It looks like the American brands are beginning to make a comeback.