Covid-19 lockdowns have led to increased brand loyalty in the US

A recent study has found vehicle owners in the United States remained loyal to the car brands they knew best during lockdowns caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The J.D. Power 2021 US Automotive Brand Loyalty Study revealed issues such as nationwide lockdowns, the recent semi-conductor chip shortage and pandemic recovery have led to consumers forming a stronger relationship with their existing dealer.

In particular, the study claims the severity of Covid-19 and related lockdowns forced many vehicle shoppers away from dealerships, with many resorting to having vehicles delivered to their homes.

“The bottom line is finding a vehicle required working closely with a dealer and, when presented with obstacles, shoppers turned to the dealer they already knew,” said Tyson Jominy, vice president of data and analytics at J.D. Power.

“As a result, the level of increased loyalty this year is remarkable.”

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The study – now in its third year – calculates whether an owner has purchased a vehicle from the same brand as the car being traded in, with the data based on transactions in the United States between June 2020 and May 2021.

The luxury brand with the highest loyalty improvement over 2020 was Acura (up 7.1 per cent). Mazda (up 5.9 per cent) had the largest advance year-on-year in the mainstream segment.

While Mazda may have had the biggest jump in loyalty, Subaru continues to lead the mainstream brands for a third consecutive year with an owner retention rate of 61.8 per cent. It was followed closely by Toyota (61.1 per cent), Honda (59.3 per cent) and Ram (56.8 per cent).

Lexus ranked the highest among luxury brands for the third consecutive year with a loyalty rate of 51.6 per cent, with Porsche (50.2 per cent) and Mercedes-Benz (47.0 per cent) trailing closely behind.

Meanwhile, Jaguar remained at the bottom of the luxury brand ranking for the third consecutive year with a loyalty rate of 17.1 per cent. For the mainstream segment, Chrysler fell to the bottom of the list, seeing just 14.6 per cent of existing owners purchase a new vehicle from the brand.