Ford Motor Company generates most 'buzz' in car industry, study says
Plenty of surveys measure attitudes toward the auto industry. Some determine聽, some focus on聽, and others zero in on areas聽.
Marketing firm YouGov measures something a little more elusive:聽buzz. Every weekday, YouGov speaks to 5,000 people across the U.S., asking them to share what they've heard about particular brands. YouGov's exact question is, "If you've heard anything about the brand in the last two weeks, through advertising, news or word of mouth, was it positive or negative?" Respondents are then asked to rate the sentiment of what they've heard on a scale of -100 (extremely negative) to +100 (extremely positive), with zero being neutral. 聽
YouGov has just compiled scores from its 2012 auto brand surveys -- over 1 million of them -- and the results are interesting:
- For a second year in a row,聽Ford聽generated more positive buzz than any other automaker. However, the company's average score of 32.1 is a few notches lower than 2011's 35.4. (Maybe all that聽聽is having an unwanted effect.)
- Coming in at #2 is聽Honda, which scored an average of 21.2 points. That's roughly on par with 2011, when the brand scored 21.6.
- Toyota聽is the #3 winner, with an average score of 20.5. That's up dramatically from the 14 points that Toyota scored in 2011, when headlines about the company's 2010 recalls were still fresh in consumers' minds.
- Volkswagen聽comes in at #4 for a second year. Its score of 16.9 is one point higher than 2011.
- And rounding out the top five, we find聽BMW聽at 15.8, nearly in lockstep with 2011's score of 15.6.
Missing from the list:聽Chevrolet, which had taken the #3 spot in 2011 with a score of 16.1.聽
Other brands showed marked improvement, even though they didn't crack YouGov's top five.Chrysler's score of 7.9 was up 2.7 points from 2011, and its sister,聽Dodge, was up 1.2 points to 10.2.聽Kia聽also gained a little ground, with an average score of 9.3 -- 1.3 points above 2011.
Our take
YouGov's overall rankings are always good to know, but we find the ups and downs in buzz to be more telling. For example, even though Toyota came in at #2 in YouGov's final tally, it was clearly the big buzz winner for the year. And as we now know, Toyota also聽聽for 2012. Coincidence?
