Hyundai Customers Most Loyal to Their Brand Says Kelley Blue Book

According to the most recent numbers released by Kelley Blue Book, Hyundai now has the strongest brand loyalty among its customers. Over the past year Hyundai owners looking to purchase another Hyundai went up 10.4 percent to a total of 56.4 percent, outranking long-time first-place brand Toyota. Honda, meanwhile, continues to hold on to the second place position.

KBB lists the reason for the jump as both the result of exciting new products from Hyundai like the Sonata and Tucson as well as the Korean automaker benefiting from other factors. Included in those are the Toyota’s recent recall woes and relatively stale products by Honda.

Hyundai has also finally entered onto KBB’s Top 10 Most-Researched New Vehicles list, with the new 2011 Hyundai Sonata now ranking fifth in February, surppassed only by such industry mainstays as the Accord, Civic, Camry and CR-V.

Official release after the jump:

Kbb.com: Hyundai Owner Loyalty Speeds Past Honda, Replaces Toyota to Take No. 1 Spot

Hyundai Values Outperform Segment; Sonata Recently Breaks into Top 10 Most-Researched New Vehicles List

IRVINE, Calif., March 15 — According to the latest Kelley Blue Book www.kbb.com Market Intelligence data, brand loyalty for Hyundai recently surpassed that of Honda and Toyota, leading Hyundai’s brand loyalty to the No. 1 spot among car shoppers on Kelley Blue Book’s kbb.com. In addition, Hyundai values have been outperforming the car segment average, and the all-new Sonata recently emerged on the kbb.com Top 10 Most-Researched New Vehicles list.

When comparing February 2010 data to Q4 2009, Korean import automaker Hyundai has seen the greatest recent increase in loyalty, with Hyundai owners looking at new models within the brand increasing by 10.4 percentage points to 56.3 percent. This surge leads Hyundai to the top spot in brand loyalty on kbb.com for the first time in recent history, up from third place in Q4 2009.

In the same timeframe, Toyota fell from the No. 1 spot to third place and Honda continues to hold steady at second place. A fewer percentage of Toyota owners are looking at new models within the brand, down 4.4 percentage points to 53.3 percent, driving Toyota loyalty to third place. Meanwhile, holding steady in second place, Honda owners looking at new models within the brand have increased by 0.7 percentage points to 55.8 percent.

In addition, the Hyundai Sonata recently broke into kbb.com’s Top 10 Most-Researched New Vehicles list for the first time. In February 2010, the Sonata was the fifth most-researched new car on kbb.com, with only perpetual ‘Top 10 Most-Researched’ mainstay Honda and Toyota models such as the Accord, Civic, Camry and CR-V ahead of it.

Furthermore, according to Kelley Blue Book Values data, throughout the month of February 2010 Hyundai outperformed the overall car segment average by a healthy margin. Hyundai values increased 2 percent month-over-month, relative to a 0.3 percent increase for the entire car segment.

“Hyundai is clearly benefiting from ‘a perfect storm’ – a result of introducing passionate new products like the 2011 Sonata and 2010 Tucson, while Honda’s mainstream vehicles like the CR-V and Accord are a bit stale in the marketplace and Toyota is experiencing a huge consumer perception crisis,” said James Bell, executive market analyst for Kelley Blue Book’s kbb.com. “To sustain this momentum, Hyundai should continue to promote its attractive new-vehicle lineup, solid warranty offer and strong price-points to new-car shoppers. Hyundai’s main challenge in the near future will likely come from domestic automakers like Ford and GM as they gear up for battle over buyers starting to look for a change from ‘Camry-land.'”

This Kelley Blue Book Market Intelligence data analysis examined site traffic to used-car trade-in pages and new-car pricing report pages on Kelley Blue Book’s kbb.com, and compared loyalty data from Q4 2009 to February 1 – 28, 2010. The Kelley Blue Book Values data within this release represents month-over-month used-vehicle depreciation percentages.