Automotive brand loyalty strengthens with Porsche, Lexus, Toyota, and Ford at the top

Brand loyalty held strong amid affordability challenges and economic volatility this year, averaging 50.2% across all nameplates and segments, up from 49% last year, according to the JD Power 2026 U.S. Automotive Brand Loyalty Study.

JD Power says automakers largely absorbed additional costs, avoiding potential major disruption from tariffs and economic uncertainty. It also reports that U.S. retail vehicle sales returned to the expected year-over-year trajectory in September.

The study, now in its eighth year, analyzes millions of real trade-in and purchase transactions from the Power Information Network (PIN) of 16,000 dealers to calculate whether an owner purchased the same brand after trading in an existing vehicle for a new vehicle. The 2026 study calculations are based on transaction data from September 2025 through August 2026 and include all model years traded in for a new vehicle. Only sales at new-vehicle franchise dealers qualify.

“In many ways, this was a year of avoided chaos,” said Tyson Jominy, JD Power’s senior vice president of OEM customer success, in a press release. “Many of the leading brands import top-selling models, and if tariff costs were passed through to consumers, loyalty could have suffered. Instead, loyalty is getting stronger. Very few brands ever reach a 60% loyalty rate, yet four of this year’s five highest-ranked brands are in the 60% range, and some segments are closing in on pickup truck loyalty levels, a sector well-known for its exceptional loyalty.”

According to the study, the highest-ranking brands this year are:

• • Premium car brands — Porsche (fifth consecutive year) with a 61.3% loyalty rate followed by BMW (49.3%).
  • SUV brands — Lexus (third consecutive year) with a 59.2% loyalty rate followed by BMW (56.4%).
  • Mass market car brands — Toyota (fifth consecutive year) with a 64.8% loyalty rate followed by Honda (57.5%).
  • Mass market SUV brands — Toyota with a 63.8% loyalty rate followed by Honda (63%).
  • Truck brands — Ford (fifth consecutive year) with a 66.2% loyalty rate, the highest loyalty rate in the study, followed by Toyota (62.2%).

When asked why customers are brand-loyal, Jominy said there really isn’t one reason.

“Loyalty is the sweet spot of the Venn diagram between automakers and dealers,” he said. “The manufacturer has to build high-quality vehicles with high-value ownership experiences, while the dealer needs to treat the owner right from sales through service.”

Jominy shared some examples of why each of the top four brands are No. 1 in the brand loyalty study.

“Porsche is [the] annual leading brand for the APEAL study, which measures how owners feel their vehicles are well-thought-out in terms of feature execution… Lexus does well with long-term ownership metrics. Vehicle dependability is a hallmark of Lexus ownership. But not only that, when a customer needs work done, Lexus dealers lead in fixing the problems right [the] first time… Ford is the top truck scorer for Net Promoter Scores. Why are its owners so enthusiastic? Ford offers trucks across all price points.

“Toyota shares many of the same attributes as Lexus above, but in addition adds so many hybrids across its portfolio. Hybrids are showing a +6 percentage point improvement in loyalty versus comparable ICE models. Perhaps surprisingly, Toyota is also doing very well with youth consumers.”

Vehicle sales

JD Power says despite the “turmoil and obstacles” the auto industry has faced this year, including historic supply chain challenges, spiraling fuel costs, record-high new-vehicle prices and economic uncertainty, year-over-year retail sales volumes are in line with forecasts.

The gap between the JD Power 2026 forecast, published in February, and actual performance was 11,000 units, or 0.12%.

“Through the first eight months of this year, actual daily selling rate changes have closely tracked the forecast,” JD Power says. “Retail sales totaled 8.8 million units through August, down from 9.2 million during the same period in 2025.”

A smarter segment mix has contributed to 2026 sales trends, according to JD Power.

“OEMs have largely managed to maintain strong sales volumes by altering their segment mixes to achieve better profitability and mitigate tariff-related supply-chain issues,” wrote JD Power on Sept. 30. “Notably, OEMs produced fewer compact SUVs while ratcheting up production of more profitable, domestically manufactured segments that have been less affected by tariffs. Large SUVs, large light-duty pickups, midsize SUVs and midsize cars all have recorded delivery gains.”

“While total consumer expenditure on new vehicles declined from $396.4 billion to $388.2 billion through August, the richer overall 2026 mix helped keep that decline relatively muted. Collectively, the richer 2026 mix added $1.4 billion and in-segment pricing increases added $6.9 billion to the overall expenditure, while new-vehicle buyers’ migration from premium brands to lower-priced nameplates deducted $2.0 billion from total spending.”

JD Power notes in the post that available inventory has tightened in several smaller, fuel-efficient segments where higher fuel prices have boosted demand, and, at the same time, OEMs have reduced deliveries in those segments.

“For now, the car industry seems to be operating in a more disciplined manner than has been seen in decades,” JD Power writes. “The major question is: Can it continue? So far, the industry has proven it is possible. For the past 18 months, overall new-vehicle inventory has held relatively steady in the 2.05 million to 2.2 million range, despite a highly volatile marketplace.”

JD Power expects Q4 retail sales to be stronger than last year, bringing the full-year result to nearly flat.

Images

Featured image credit: Hispanolistic/iStock