When buying something, most people look closely at the outer surface because it often indicates quality and performance.
Kelley Blue Book and Kelley Blue Book Marketing Research announced the results of the “Exterior Styling” segment of their most recent automotive research study, Brand Watch.
Kelley Blue Book vice president of marketing and market research Rick Wainschel said exterior styling is a top decision factor among vehicle buyers, and consumer perceptions can add or remove a brand from the list. someone’s consideration. He added that Brand Watch’s real-time reporting of data and the ability to view these brand perceptions can be extremely useful in tracking changes in new-vehicle buyer attitudes and developing responses to those changes.
Kelley Blue Book’s watch brand study of exterior styling was classified into seven segments. These are convertibles/sports cars, trucks, minivans, luxury SUVs, non-luxury SUVs, luxury sedans, and non-luxury sedans.
The results gave some surprises. Porsche outperformed other convertibles or sports cars by placing number one in the category. It was followed by Mercedes-Benz in 2nd place and then Jaguar in 3rd place.
For new trucks, according to car buyers, Ford has the best exterior, followed by GMC and then Chevrolet. Dodge, Toyota, Nissan and Honda nearly earned a place in the category where they placed fourth, fifth, eighth and eleventh, respectively.
However, in the Minivans category, Dodge took first place; Toyota rated 2; and Honda in 3rd place.
Consumers rank BMW as the luxury SUV with the best exterior, Lexus as the second best, and Mercedes-Benz as the third best. For its part, in Non-Luxury SUVs, the first three in the ranking -in descending order- are made up of Ford, Toyota and GMC.
In fact, BMW proved its luxury when it took first place again in the luxury category, this time for the sedan. Mercedes-Benz followed immediately at No. 2 and Infiniti at No. 3. Meanwhile, in the non-luxury sedan, Nissan, Honda, and Toyota ranked first, second, and third, respectively.
Volkswagen, with its newly upgraded VW valve covers for its new vehicles, did not make the top list of results. Some said this is because the study was only based on the exterior of the car and not the engine, which is one of the priority parts of a car.
Jack R. Nerad, executive editorial director and, at the same time, executive market analyst at Kelley Blue Book, said that as vehicle reliability reaches near parity in the market, they predict exterior styling will play an even greater role. important in new construction. vehicle sales and brand value. He further said that the results of the Brand Watch study show that the industry is, and should be, placing great emphasis on the appearance of its vehicles.
Brand Watch taps into active buyers to determine their perceptions of automotive brands within specific automotive segments and is available to vehicle manufacturers and automotive industry professionals. Brand Watch further addresses how each manufacturer’s brand equity differs between vehicle segments, compares the relative position of each brand against competing brands, and reveals car buyers’ decision factors within each brand. and segment. In addition, detailed demographic and psychographic information is collected, reported and detailed throughout Brand Watch’s comprehensive study, which is available quarterly from Kelley Blue Book Marketing Research.
