• September 25, 2012

Mercedes-Benz is in the lead in perception among affluent car buyers  who will plan to make an auto purchase in the next 12 months. BMW, which was in fourth place at the beginning of August, moved to second place on Sept. 10th, passing Infiniti, which has been leveling off since that time according to monthly brand-perception tracker YouGov.

Lexus, like Infiniti, moved up a spot between Aug. 1 and Sept. 7 -- from number five spot to number four. Audi, meanwhile, moved from a first-place tie with Mercedes-Benz to the number five spot on Sept. 17, behind Lexus.
The results are from Internet poll based on the question,  "Do you have a general positive ( or negative) feeling about the brand?" All results are for U.S. adults 18+ with an annual salary of $120,000 or more, and plan to make their next auto purchase within the next 12 months.

Infiniti and Lexus showed identical trends of increasing impression score for five weeks and then around September 10th, began fading, while Mercedes Benz and BMW continue their momentum.
YouGov BrandIndex (www.brandindex.com) interviews 5,000 people each weekday from a representative US population sample, more than 1.2 million interviews per year. Respondents are drawn from an online panel of more than 1.5MM individuals.