This Legacy Automaker Leads the Pack in Public Perception
Perception is everything. So which legacy automaker is poised to capitalize the most when it comes to how its brand is perceived by consumers in the marketplace?
To answer this question, we polled approximately 400 members of VerticalScope’s Fora communities platform and found that, overwhelmingly, one brand is winning the hearts and minds of the public.
That brand is Hyundai.
Hyundai Leads in Adopting EVs
When asked “What traditional automaker is doing the best job in transitioning to EVs,” over 28% of respondents chose Hyundai as that brand. When analyzing the data further to see how actual EV owners answered the question, Hyundai not only retained top spot, but rose to 30% of respondents.
This indicates Hyundai’s leadership role in the EV space is strong not just with EV owners and shoppers, but with general consumers as well.
But the most positive view of Hyundai came from owners of non-legacy vehicles, such as Tesla, Rivian and Polestar. A total of 34% of those new EV brands voted Hyundai as the legacy automaker doing the best job switching to electrification.
"Voted Hyundai and I continue to be impressed with their direction, deliveries, and our 2023 Ioniq5," said user SalisburySam on TeslaOwnersOnline.com. "When you look at the corporate grouping of Hyundai-Kia-Genesis, they appear to have the talent, management will, and strategy to make an EV transition actually happen."
In second place overall was BMW at 18% while third spot on the podium belongs to Hyundai sister-brand Kia at approximately 11% of the vote.
Rounding out the top 5 are Ford and Volvo.
Other notable placements on the list include the fact that Nissan ranks down in 8th, despite being one of the pioneers of mainstream electric cars with the LEAF. Although that likely reflects the gap between that car’s relevance in the marketplace and the introduction of the new Ariya electric crossover which is only just recently on sale. Also of note, is Toyota, which despite ranking down in 9th is a decent placement for a brand that has been vocal about its hesitancy in adopting EVs.
Looking specifically at the data from owners of new EV brands like Tesla, one anomaly was how highly they ranked Volvo, at fourth overall, indicating the Volvo is doing something to reach those early adopters.
“Hyundai is clearly doing all the right things,” says Colum Wood, VP of Content for VerticalScope. “From a robust electric product rollout with numerous affordable EVs on sale today, we’ve also seen that these products are getting overwhelmingly positive reviews from journalists. In addition, Hyundai has invested heavily in marketing for its electric vehicle lineup, helping spread the word.”
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I agree that Hyundai division which builds cars is actually a very small percentage of the Mega corporate company known as Hyundai Motor Company which includes Kia and the Premium Luxury brand Genesis. Hyundai is the world’s third biggest automaker in terms of sales. Only Toyota #1 & Volkswagen #2 had more sales worldwide than Hyundai.
True Hyundai are building interesting EV but our son in law bought an Ionic 5 and has a lot of issues with level 2 charging and also the car just shuts off, no power. The car has been at least 6 times trying to deal with it and Hyundai said they would give him $28,000 for the car. Toyota looks better after listening to his problems