• by Karl Greenberg , September 2, 2014

Jeep, Buick and Cadillac over the past year have had the most success in gaining the attention of Millennials, but the gains don’t equate to product consideration, per YouGov BrandIndex. YouGov says that is especially the case when it comes to Millennial women, who account for 53% of car buyers in that age bracket.

To get a pulse on brand buzz, the company surveys consumers between 18 and 34 years of age on whether they have heard anything about a given auto brand in the past two weeks, either via advertising, news or word of mouth. And the firm asks whether the buzz was positive or negative. To gauge purchase consideration, YouGov queries respondents about whether they would consider purchasing the brand’s products, based on the category of car or truck (mass or luxury, for example) the consumer is interested in. 

Jeep, Buick and Cadillac have had much better luck building buzz among Millennial men. Jeep jumped to seventh place among men. The firm said Buick made the second largest buzz score gain for men, followed by Cadillac.

Although they have gained, the three brands have a ways to go to reach the leaders. YouGov said Toyota gets high scores based on the firm's evaluation of brand buzz with both Millennial-age genders: it has the highest score for women, and is tied with Ford at a 25 score for men. Subaru comes in third place for men, with twice the Buzz score it has among women, where it retains a sixth place ranking. Honda has the second-highest Buzz score among women, and is fifth place among men, after Ford, Toyota, Subaru and Audi. Nissan doesn't appear on the men's list at all. Among luxury brands, Audi, Mercedes, Cadillac and Acura are on the list for having strong buzz among men.

Toyota is still top dog on purchase consideration, leading for both male and female Millennials, although its position is flat with last year. Thirty-one percent of Millennials said they would consider the brand. Honda and Ford have the second-highest purchase consideration scores for both genders, although Honda has better consideration numbers with women (29%) than men (21%).

After those brands come BMW at 16%, Buick at 14% and Chrysler at 13%. Jeep, Kia and Subaru only appear on women’s list of car brands with the highest purchase consideration.