• by Karl Greenberg , February 9, 2012

This week, Marketing Daily brings you exclusive coverage of the Brand Keys 2012 Customer Loyalty Engagement Index. Each day, expect a full report on key product/services categories from among the 83 surveyed for this year's study, including automotive, electronics, retail and technology. This part of the fourth installment focuses on highlights from the automotive category.

Hyundai Motor is on top of Brand Keys' customer loyalty index this year. That's no surprise. The Fountain Valley, Calif. automaker has infused design and content into everything from the entry-car Accent to the luxury-entrant Equus, and has redefined the customer experience from top to bottom.

Beyond just the automotive category, Brand Keys' 16th annual Customer Engagement Loyalty Index (CLEI) puts Hyundai at essentially sixth place (versus fifth last year) among 598 brands across 83 categories. Hyundai is also the only auto brand in the top 20.

Nipping at Hyundai's heels in the auto category are, in descending order,  Ford, Honda, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and General Motors (tied), followed by a three-way tie among Nissan, Chrysler, and Toyota.  

Here is the full list:

1. Hyundai
2. Ford
3. Honda
4. BMW
5. Mercedes/GM (tie)
6. Nissan/Chrysler/ Toyota (tie)
7. Kia
8. Subaru
9. Audi
10. Jeep/Chevrolet/Mitsubishi (tie)
11. Volkswagen/Volvo (tie)
12. Mazda
13. Saab

Several brands made big changes this year versus last, which shouldn't surprise anyone who has observed the high drama and motility in the auto market driven by everything from the U.S. economy to disaster in Japan, floods in Thailand -- and of course, brilliant marketing jiu jitsu. Last year, for example, Chrysler was in tenth place -- not fifth. And the year before that, it was at the bottom.

And the rankings are reiterated to some extent by sales numbers just out for the first month of the year. Hyundai and Mercedes-Benz reported best-ever numbers for January, and Chrysler reported its best January in three years, with sales up 40%. Ford posted a 7% increase for the month; Honda racked up an 8.8% year-over-year increase; and BMW saw sales increase 5.8% versus the month last year.  Toyota saw sales increase 7.5% and Nissan boosted year-over-year numbers by over 10%.

Toyota, which was second place in 2010 in the CLEI, and seventh last year, has moved up a spot in spite its myriad force majeure issues from natural and human-made disasters. It's fair to say the fact that it has moved up a notch is due in part to the automaker having put the whole acceleration business in the rear-view mirror.   

"Toyota had been No. 1 forever in terms of brand equity and loyalty. But the well of goodwill is not bottomless," says Robert Passikoff, president of Brand Keys. "BP is great example of that. They had been top of the list."

That Chrysler is now number six is remarkable considering that, per Passikoff, it was at the bottom of the list before last year.

"The Assurance program was genius. They became the only car company in the world to be your best friend. Who cares that there are probably eight people who actually took the Assurance deal; it was the right thing to do for the time. But now they are benefiting from the fact that they are producing nice-looking, solid cars.

Also remarkable is the ascendance of Ford and GM on the list. Passikoff points out that they had been dead last on the 16-brand-long list in 2009. "For the longest time these hadn't been brands at all, but placeholders. GM not long ago was the acme of automakers."