GM, Tesla lead the way in S&P Global Mobility’s Automotive Loyalty Awards

Brand loyalty is making a comeback, and General Motors and Tesla are leading the charge.

They were among the big winners in S&P Global Mobility’s 28th annual Automotive Loyalty Awards, with GM earning the Overall Loyalty to Manufacturer award and Tesla claiming the title in Overall Loyalty to Make.

The Lincoln Nautilus took the top spot in the newly created Overall Loyalty to Model category.

S&P, which analyzed 12.6 million new retail vehicle registrations in the U.S. during 2023 to determine the results, said both retail sales and loyalty were up year-over-year.

“The past few years have shown us customers are becoming more comfortable to consider and purchase a new vehicle outside their preferred brand,” S&P Global Mobility president of automotive insights Joe LaFeir said in a news release. “However, concerted efforts from OEMs to improve retention through unique marketing initiatives, alongside improving inventory levels and great new products, are resulting in a stabilizing of loyalty levels after several years of decline.”

Steady increases in inventory levels yielded a positive impact to industry loyalty levels for the first time since 2019, according to the company’s analysis. Overall brand loyalty rose to 51.0% in 2023, up from 50.2% the previous year.

None of the overall winners were a surprise. GM’s win was its ninth in a row in the manufacturer category, and its 20 in the award’s 28-year history.

Tesla was a repeat winner in four categories — overall make, highest conquest percentage, alternative powertrain loyalty to make and ethnic market loyalty to make — thanks to the popularity of the Model 3 and Model Y among current owners and the brand’s ability to attract ICE customers to the electric vehicle space.

While the overall model category is new, the Nautilus has won back-to-back honors in the luxury mid-size utility segment. In 2023, more than 42% of Nautilus owners returning to market for their next vehicle chose another Nautilus.

S&P Global Mobility product management associate director of loyalty Vince Palomarez said the Automotive Loyalty Awards “truly exemplify the industry’s competitiveness and desire” to boost retention.

“The awards reflect substantial fact-based analysis,” he said, “which allows us to understand and determine conquest and loyalty rates while providing guidance to OEM marketers and their agency partners to help improve loyalty programs and customer retention.”

Acura, Nissan and Mitsubishi were first-time winners. Acura claimed the Most Improved Make Loyalty award, while Nissan took Overall Loyalty to Dealer honors, as more than 37% of the Nissan owners returning to market acquired their next vehicle from the same dealer.

Mitsubishi won the Most Improved Alternative Powertrain Loyalty to Make award with the launch of the redesigned Outlander plug-in hybrid.

The complete list of 2023 award winners:

*Repeat winner from the 2022