GM tops IHS loyalty awards

Two of the Big 3 automakers were recognized during the 20th Annual Automotive Loyalty Awards presented by IHS Automotive this week.

General Motors was honored in the category of Overall Loyalty to Manufacturer for the 2015 model year, while Ford won the Overall Loyalty to Make category.

According to IHS, the automotive loyalty awards recognize auto manufacturers and brands for customer retention and conquest efforts during the 2015 model year.

During the model year timeframe, which stretched from October 2014 to September 2015, 8.2 million consumers returned to the market for a new vehicle. Citing record levels of loyalty rates for both brands and manufacturers, IHS found that 51.5 percent of the consumers that returned to the market repurchased from the same brand as their previous new-vehicle purchase.

59 percent repurchased from the same manufacturer (but not necessarily the same make). Both of those metrics increased by over 1 percent compared to the results from model year 2014.

IHS says it expects these loyalty percentages to continue to increase.

“With the number of consumers returning to market expected to peak in 2017, and conquest efforts and competition on the rise, an increased level of focus will be required to continue driving higher volumes of loyal customers in the market,” said Steve Had, vice president of sales and marketing solutions at IHS Automotive, during award ceremony Monday evening. “The good news is that manufacturers are consciously emphasizing loyalty programs and dedicating resources to loyalty and conquest efforts as they fight for every point of market share.”

IHS’ data also shows that 14 percent of the industry is made up of consumers, coined as “super loyalists,” that have returned to market three times to purchase from the same manufacturer. Those that have returned the last two times are called “loyalists,” and make up 26 percent of the industry.

“Our analysis, which leverages the insights of Strategic Vision’s New Vehicle Experience Study (NVES), finds that Super Loyalists and Loyalists are far less susceptible to defection following a disappointing ownership experience,” Had said. “Other customers with less frequent repeat purchase behavior are almost twice as likely to defect compared with Super Loyalists The use of our insight and analytics to further understand these consumers can be key to bringing them back into showrooms for repeat purchases.”

Here’s the overall list of automotive loyalty award winners, provided by IHS: