• by Karl Greenberg , February 7, 2011

Hyundai's ascendance in recent years might not be a surprise to younger people who know the brand for its 10-year warranty, its Assurance program launched in 2009 (offering to let buyers return their vehicles if they hit a big life-changing speed bump), as a maker of visually stylish vehicles like the Genesis, and now the Sonata and Elantra; or as the newest entrant to the luxury market with the Equus.

But to people who have kept an eye on the industry for more than, say, 10 years, Hyundai's turnaround is remarkable, not least because the automaker is for the second year in a row No. 1 in the auto category in Brand Keys' 15th Customer Loyalty Index. More impressive, although perhaps less meaningful in terms of consumer behavior, is the fact that Brand Keys has also ranked the automaker No. 5 overall among the 528 brands in 79 categories it measured for the study.

After Hyundai, the top auto brands in this year's index are Ford; Honda and Nissan (tied); Mercedes and BMW (tied); Kia, and GM (tied); Subaru; Jeep and Toyota (tied); Mazda and Mitsubishi and Volkswagen (tied); Chrysler; Audi, Chevrolet and Volvo (tied); and Saab.

Hyundai grabbed the top spot with the Assurance program and hasn't looked back, says Robert Passikoff, president of Brand Keys. "That was genius," he tells Marketing Daily. "It comes down to delight. You have consumers who know who you are, know where to get you, know what you do, and they know what they think you're worth. Now the issue is experience and innovation: what it has come down to is 'delight me.' And that takes time -- it doesn't happen overnight."

Perhaps as surprising as Hyundai's keeping a grip on the top spot are the changes below the peak: Toyota was second place last year, followed by Subaru, then Ford, Saab and BMW. Mercedes-Benz was in fifth place last year, with Audi and Honda at sixth. Chevrolet was eighth place and parent company General Motors was way down at 11th place. The irony of GM's jump to fifth place is that under the marketing direction of Joel Ewanick, the company has tried to make GM, as a brand, nonexistent. Chevrolet -- which has seen its brand equity improve with cars like the Camaro, Cruze, and Volt -- was the top-selling auto brand in the U.S. last month.

Passikoff says Ford's rise from 12th place in 2009 to fourth place last year to No. 2 in 2011 is partly emblematic of the leveling of the playing field insofar as safety, durability and quality are concerned, and the increase in importance of vehicle features, design elements and technological attributes. "Consumers have new expectations now. Things like safety and protection are the least important drivers because everyone offers that. You have to go to India and buy a Tata Nano to get an unsafe car for the U.S. There was a time Toyota could beat the shit out of GM because General Motors cars were just not good. Not now."

Also noteworthy in the study are the number of shared rankings of two, or three, and even four-way ties, which Passikoff says reflects that leveling of the field in terms of fundamentals. "They are in so many ways perceived to be pretty much the same. So unless you can do something striking with product innovation you can't stand out. That's where Ford has taken the lead," says Passikoff.

Passikoff points out that the index is not a market model but a behavioral model, meaning it is predictive of sales based on how delighted consumers are with a brand, but it doesn't directly track sales. "It is, for us, an issue of how they are being perceived by the customer group in relation to the ideal," he says. "We work on a kind of reverse engineering axiomatic: if people are behaving better toward you, you ought to make more sales. It tells you whether people are willing to give you the benefit of the doubt."