Tesla Takes The Crown, Ends Ford's 12-Year Reign In Brand Loyalty For Vehicle Make

Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) won it big in the S&P Global Mobility 27th annual Automotive Loyalty Awards announced recently. The award was based on buying activity tracked in 2022, a year marked by challenges as fewer customers returned to the market, the report said.

Tesla Reaps Rich Haul: Electric vehicle leader Telsa was named the winner of the “Overall Loyalty To Make” award, unseating Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) in this category, showed S&P Mobility release. Incidentally, Ford was the winner in the category for 12 straight years ahead of 2022, thanks to customer loyalty toward its F-Series trucks.

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The other categories in which Tesla came on top were “Ethnic Market Loyalty To Make,” “Most Improved Make Loyalty,” “Highest Conquest Percentage” and “Alternative Powertrain Loyalty To Make.”

Tesla’s Model Y and Model 3 earned loyalty awards in the luxury small utility and luxury small car categories, respectively.

GM Commands Manufacturer Loyalty: Customer loyalty toward manufacturers was in favor of General Motor Co. (NYSE: GM), which bagged the “Overall Loyalty To Manufacturer” award for the eighth consecutive year. The company has won in this category for the 19th time in the past 27 years.

“Consistent demand for GM's sport-utility and pickup offerings, in addition to rising Inventory levels, led to strong loyalty gains for the manufacturer throughout 2022,” S&P Mobility said.

The report noted that Mercedes-Benz Group AG (OTC: MBGAF) was recognized as the winner in the “Most Improved Alternative Powertrain Loyalty To Make” category, thanks to its successful launch of the EQS.

Subaru, in which Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) has a stake, won the “Overall Loyalty To Dealer” award.

Overall Brand Loyalty On The Wane: “The past three years have been a challenge for the automotive industry," said Joe LaFeir, president, Automotive Insights, S&P Global Mobility.

"As customers are returning back to market post-pandemic and inventory levels have slowly improved from last year's lows, retaining loyal customers has been more challenging than ever before."

The report noted that customers switched allegiance if their previously chosen brand did not have sufficient stock. Overall, industry average loyalty declined from 54.6% in the pre-pandemic 2019 levels to 50.2% in 2022.

Price Action: Tesla ended Monday's session up 5.46% at $207.63, according to Benzinga Pro data.

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