Schaumburg, Ill., Jan. 05, 2016 - 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.

Manufacturer loyalty top 10 Loyalty rate
Subaru 67.7 percent
Ford 67.5 percent
Toyota 67.3 percent
GM 67.2 percent
Fiat Chrysler 65.5 percent
Daimler 64.9 percent
Kia 63.2 percent
Honda 61.3 percent
Hyundai 61.3 percent
Nissan 61.2 percent

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.

Brand loyalty top 10 Loyalty rate
Subaru 67.7 percent
Ford 66.7 percent
Mercedes-Benz 65.1 percent
Toyota 63.5 percent
Kia 63.2 percent
Hyundai 61.3 percent
Nissan 61.1 percent
Chevrolet 60.7 percent
Lexus 60.7 percent
Honda 59.9 percent

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).

Model loyalty top 10 Loyalty rate
Land Rover Range Rover 48.2 percent
Mercedes-Benz S Class 46.6 percent
Lincoln MKZ 44.8 percent
Mercedes-Benz 2500 Sprinter Van 44.8 percent
Nissan Leaf 44.0 percent
Ram 1500 42.9 percent
Lexus RX 350 42.7 percent
Hyundai Genesis 42.5 percent
Kia Soul 42.0 percent
Subaru Forester 41.1 percent

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.

Contact:
Roslyn Whitehurst
Experian Public Relations
1 714 830 5578
roslyn.whitehurst@experian.com
Twitter: @RozWhitehurst

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 DatabaseSM 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
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Experian plc issued this content on 2016-01-05 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 2016-01-05 18:40:04 UTC

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