SCHAUMBURG, Ill. -

After reviewing data from the fourth quarter of last year, Experian Automotive said today that Ford took the top spot in corporate loyalty. It’s the first time the Blue Oval has secured this achievement since the closing quarter of 2011.

During the fourth quarter of 2012, analysts determined 47.9 percent of the customers who own a Ford vehicle returned to market to buy another Ford or Lincoln vehicle. Experian indicated General Motors had the second highest corporate loyalty — ranking at 47.7 percent — followed by Toyota at 46.9 percent.

“Customer loyalty will always be a very important barometer of automotive sales success,” said Jeffrey Anderson, director of consulting and analytics for Experian Automotive.

“Ford has developed extremely loyal customers across a wide range of vehicles,” Anderson continued. “That consistency across its product line has helped vault Ford’s loyalty rankings past its rivals in our latest study.”

Experian highlighted Ford also dominated loyalty at the brand level, coming in with 47.1 percent of Ford owners returning to the market to purchase another Ford vehicle. Mercedes-Benz was second with 43.7 percent, which is a significant increase over the previous quarter when the German luxury OEM came in ninth place with 34.6 percent.

At the model level, Ford had a record eight of the top 10 vehicles listed. Experian said the Ford Fusion topped the list with 60 percent of Fusion owners returning to market to purchase another Ford vehicle.

Other Ford vehicles in the top 10 included Flex, Edge, Five Hundred, Fiesta, Escape, Focus and Taurus.

The only non-Ford vehicles in the top 10 were the Kia Forte and the Chevrolet Sonic.

In other report findings, Experian indicated:

—The average length of vehicle ownership fell from 68.1 months in 2011 to 66.2 months in 2012.

—During Q4 2012, the hybrid vehicle segment accounted for 1.03 percent of all vehicles in operation (VIO). It was the first time in history that hybrids topped 1 percent of VIO.

—Import share of vehicles in operation reached a record high 41 percent during Q4 2012.

—Cadillac had the highest jump in brand loyalty, jumping nearly 5 percentage points from 25 percent to 30 percent during Q4 2012.

—Luxury brands accounted for five of the top 10 gainers in customer loyalty.

Experian Automotive Loyalty and Market Trends Q4 2012 Report

Corporate Loyalty
—Ford: 47.9 percent
—General Motors: 47.7 percent
—Toyota: 46.9 percent
—Mercedes-Benz: 43.4 percent
—Honda: 41.8 percent
—Kia: 40.0 percent
—Hyundai: 38.9 percent
—Subaru: 38.9 percent
—Chrysler: 38.1 percent
—BMW: 37.0 percent

Brand Loyalty
—Ford: 47.1 percent
—Mercedes-Benz: 43.7 percent
—Toyota: 42.9 percent
—Honda: 40.4 percent
—Chevrolet: 40.0 percent
—Kia: 40.0 percent
—Hyundai: 38.9 percent
—Subaru: 38.9 percent
—BMW: 37.5 percent
—Lexus: 36.7 percent

Brand Loyalty by Model
—Ford Fusion: 60.0 percent
—Ford Flex: 58.0 percent
—Ford Edge: 57.1 percent
—Kia Forte: 55.6 percent
—Ford Five Hundred: 53.3 percent
—Ford Fiesta: 53.2 percent
—Ford Escape: 52.8 percent
—Chevrolet Sonic: 52.4 percent
—Ford Focus: 52.1 percent
—Ford Taurus: 49.3 percent

Continue the conversation with Auto Remarketing on both LinkedIn and Twitter.