After finishing second in the mass-market group in 2022, Mitsubishi Motors North America took the top spot for the first time in Reputation's annual 2023 Automotive Reputation Report, ranking first among 19 mass-market auto brands. 

Reputation's report evaluates customer experience at 35,000 automotive OEM brands, dealer groups, and dealerships across the United States, Canada and Europe.

The top U.S. non-luxury brands are Mitsubishi, Subaru, Nissan and Honda while the top U.S. luxury brands are Infiniti, Lexus, BMW, Acura and Porsche.

The annual ranking of brands and dealerships is based on Reputation Score, a proprietary, AI-fueled metric that serves as a leading performance indicator in the automotive industry. 

Reputation Score goes beyond analyzing consumer reviews to rank brands and dealerships using a measurement on a scale of 0 to 1,000 that considers a location’s sentiment, visibility and engagement.

Reputation’s annual automotive report details how top auto brands and dealers leveraged customer feedback to increase business by as much as 10%.

A whopping 84% of customers said reviews factored into their choice of dealership in 2023, with 93% of Gen Z using reviews to make purchasing decisions. That generation reports they are twice as likely (17%) to have their choice of dealership influenced by social media versus the general population (8%).

Notably, there is a 60% increase in review volume for electric vehicles over the past two years, and in the U.K,. 29% of EV buyers have made their purchase decision after engaging with a dealership.

A car is one of the most significant purchases many consumers make, and a highly emotional one, says Joe Fuca, CEO of Reputation.

“People are willing to pay the higher prices we’re seeing today, but expect a premium experience, which means where they buy their car matters now more than ever,” Fuca says in a statement.