Hybrid Car Buyers are Loyal Buyers

Once again, Prius buyers have shown themselves to be loyal buyers.  Toyota beat out GM for the first time, winning the award for Overall Loyalty to Manufacturer, propelled by some of their more popular and loyal buyers.  Toyota took first place in the Mid/Full-Size Car and Mid/Full- Size SUV categories for the Toyota Prius and Lexus RX, respectively.

Prius buyers (and other hybrid car owners) have been shown time and time again to be loyal customers, coming back and buying another Prius (or hybrid).  But you have to wonder if that's because of the make, or because of the lack of choices.

If there was a car from Ford or GM that was priced similarly to the Prius, and got similar fuel efficiency numbers, would car buyers switch?  Ford has said that many of those who are buying the Fusion Hybrid are trading in Toyota or Honda vehicles.  That seems to show that at least part of the loyalty, so far, has been to the fuel efficient hybrid technology.

Categories	Winners	Loyalty %
Overall Loyalty to Manufacturer	Toyota	58.60%
Overall Loyalty to Make	Honda	54.86%
Most Improved Loyalty to Make	Audi	+ 4.9 percentage points
Hispanic Market Loyalty to Make	Honda	54.97%
Asian Market Loyalty to Make	Toyota	52.03%
African American Market Loyalty to Make	Honda	56.58%
Vehicle Segment Awards
Compact Car	Mini Cooper	28.88%
Mid/Full-Size Car	Toyota Prius	35.85%
Luxury Car	BMW 3 Series	32.28%
Sports Car	Ford Mustang	16.30%
Luxury Sports Car	Porsche 911	24.97%
Minivan	Chrysler Town & Country	31.70%
Mid/Full-Size Pickup	Ford F-Series	35.81%
Compact SUV	Subaru Forester	35.44%
Mid/Full-Size SUV	Lexus RX	37.29%
Luxury SUV	Land Rover Range Rover	30.42%