Toyota and Mercedes are the most authentic automotive brands in the Australian market, according to the latest Brand Alpha research study by brand strategy agency Principals and researchers The Navigators.
Brand Alpha seeks the opinion of consumers on brands and how they measure against four key drivers of authenticity: Visibility, Value, Vitality and Virtue.
The research is conducted multiple times each year and has been running for more than 12 years.
The most recent wave focused on automotive brands and surveyed Australian consumers in January.
The findings show Toyota to be the leading mainstream brand in a post-Holden world.
Most authentic mainstream brands
1. Toyota
2. Mazda
3. Hyundai
4. Ford
5. Honda
6. Nissan
7. VW
8. Mitsubishi
9. Subaru
10. KIA
In the luxury category, Mercedes leads the charge.
Most authentic luxury brands
1. Mercedes
2. BMW
3. Porsche
4. Audi
5. Volvo
6. Jaguar
7. Lexus
8. Tesla
9. Land Rover
10. Alfa Romeo
The study also gauged sentiment around the demise of the Holden brand in the local market finding that Toyota will be the biggest beneficiary following the shock announcement from General Motors earlier this year that the brand would cease.
Just prior to the announcement of the closure, 63% of existing Holden owners reported they intended to buy or lease a different brand for their next new motor vehicle.
“It is clear from the findings that the Holden brand was struggling to retain the loyalty of people who had previously committed to it," Navigators director Cecile Thornley says.
"Typically, as brands shrink, existing buyers of the brand become less loyal. Conversely, the largest brands in a market such as Toyota typically exhibit lower rates of defection.”
It is estimated 27% of existing Holden owners intend to next buy or lease a Toyota, a figure much greater than any other automotive brand and well in excess of Toyota’s 20% share of new vehicle sales in 2019 as reported by VFACTS.
The research also shows Ford has some work to do to re-establish brand relevance with Australian consumers.
The Brand Alpha study suggests Ford is no more relevant on category entry points than Holden.
For example, only 27% of those surveyed believed that Holden was a brand they could “own for a long time” with 26% of survey respondents echoing this sentiment for Ford.
Other points of note in the research include the rise of Korean auto brands in the Australian market as Hyundai tops the Brand Alpha Momentum Index and the Japanese “wallpaper” brands: a collection of brands that are neither seriously considered nor rejected by consumers with Honda, Subaru, Mitsubishi, Lexus and Nissan all generating similarly lukewarm levels of engagement with non-owners.
Tesla outperforms on Vitality and is now the brand most strongly associated with environmental friendliness.
“Brands must focus only on things that matter to their consumers while working to continuously prove vitality and momentum," Principals founder and planning director Wayde Bull says.
"And, with the landscape rapidly shifting, automotive brands must move far away from the brand comparisons of the last century. It’s no longer about Holden versus Ford. The conversation has well and truly moved on.”
The 2020 Brand Alpha Automotive Study is an online survey of 1,868 people aged 18-plus who had bought or leased a new motor vehicle in the last five years or intend to buy or lease a new motor in the next five years.
Fieldwork was conducted January 10-16.
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