What vehicle brand are you likely to buy? America answers
Interesting Wall Street Journal story (subscription required):
Of 34,196 people who responded to AutoPacific's questions about what vehicle brand they would consider buying next time, 31.7% considered Toyota, up from 27.6% in 1998. Ford, the No. 1 ranked brand, was considered by 36.8% of the respondents, beating General Motors Corp.'s Chevy brand's 36.6% score by less than a bumper length.
...In the luxury field, the big winners are BMW, Lexus and Acura. BMW has parlayed its "ultimate driving machine" message, and a string of cars that deliver on that promise, to the point where 19.5% of the respondents to AutoPacific's survey said they would consider a BMW as their next car, up from 14.2% in 1998. BMW's arch-rival, Mercedes-Benz, has a more staid, less youthful image that it's trying very hard now to change. Small wonder, as Mercedes ranked behind BMW, Lexus, Acura and Nissan in the AutoPacific survey with a consideration score of 14.6%.
As AutoPacific's Mr. Hall points out, this isn't really about brand image. It's about the cars and trucks. The top three brands, Ford, Chevy and Toyota have all rolled out extensive lines of new trucks and SUVs over the past few years, responding to and capitalizing on the American mania for those vehicles. DaimlerChrysler's U.S. brands, Dodge, Chrysler and Jeep, have had to make do with fewer new products. Dodge has just one SUV, the aging Durango. Toyota has five SUVs -- the small RAV4, the midsized Highlander, the pickup-based 4Runner, the full-sized, U.S.-made Sequoia and the ultra-ritzy Land Cruiser.