What new-model shoppers think of a specific brand very well could be an indicator of how used-vehicle shoppers evaluate that badge, too.

So, Kelley Blue Book’s 2023 Brand Image Award winners could help dealerships shape their inventory for the remainder of the year and beyond.

Honda, Toyota and Tesla dominated the award categories that are calculated among in-market luxury, non-luxury, truck and electric vehicle (EV) shoppers who plan to purchase within the next 12 months.

KBB highlighted Tesla impressively swept nearly all the luxury brand awards.

Tesla won Best Overall Luxury Brand for the fourth year in a row, achieving the highest average score across all ratings of luxury models to win the award.

In addition, Tesla claimed the all-new 2023 Best Overall EV Brand award, which is calculated based on 12 factors of importance among all automotive brands that have at least one EV in their model lineup.

Tesla also took home specific awards this year for Best Value Luxury Brand and Most Refined Luxury Brand, claiming both honors for the fourth year in a row.

To round out its five Brand Image Award wins, Tesla claimed Best Performance Brand for 2023, topping last year’s winner Porsche.

KBB said Tesla’s several 2023 Brand Image Awards stemmed from the OEM’s “superior technology innovations, unparalleled performance, and its refined, striking designs.”

For the seventh time in the past 10 years, Honda claimed the Best Overall Brand accolade for 2023 among non-luxury automakers.

Honda achieved the highest average score across all ratings of non-luxury models to win the Best Overall Brand. In addition, Honda took home the award once again for Best Value Brand in 2023, an award the automaker now has claimed for straight nine years.

KBB said Honda’s 2023 Brand Image Award are based on the brand’s “reputation for excellence, including superior value for the money and solid MPG.”

Toyota took the Best Overall Truck Brand in 2023 for the fifth year in a row. Toyota achieved the highest average score across all ratings of truck models and 12 weighted factors of importance.

KBB indicated Toyota’s consecutive years of winning Best Overall Truck Brand are thanks to its truck models offering “outstanding features and stylish designs without sacrificing quality, performance or safety.”

Toyota also secured Most Trusted Brand for 2023, an award Subaru previously won from 2015 through 2022, “demonstrating the brand’s focus and commitment in 2023 to delivering vehicles that consumers trust,” according to KBB.

Beyond the top overall brands, KBB pointed out other automakers gained noteworthy Brand Image Award wins for 2023.

Dodge claimed Best Performance Brand for 2023, an award Subaru won for the previous three years.

Dodge also was awarded Most Refined Brand among non-luxury shoppers this year, bringing home the trophy over last year’s winner Honda.

Ford gained its first Brand Image Award win since 2018 by taking home this year’s Best Car Styling Brand award among non-luxury shoppers, thanks to the “striking” design of the Mustang. This is the first time in 10 years Ford has won the coveted Best Car Styling Brand award, a win Dodge previously won for the previous four years.

In addition, Porsche secured this year’s Best Car Styling Luxury Brand, an award it previously won in 2021 and 2022.

To round out the 2023 Brand Image Award winners, Lexus once again wins Most Trusted Luxury Brand, an award it notably has dominated for eight years straight and one it has captured 10 times in the last 11 years.

The 2023 Brand Image Awards are based on consumer automotive perception data from Kelley Blue Book’s Brand Watch study. Kelley Blue Book’s Brand Watch is an online brand and model perception tracking study, which taps into more than 12,000 in-market new-vehicle shoppers annually on KBB.com.

The study is geared to offer insight into how shoppers perceive important factors driving their purchase decisions and captures brand/model familiarity and consideration.

“Kelley Blue Book’s Brand Image Awards celebrate the automakers capturing the most attention from new-car shoppers, which is quite a feat considering the increasingly crowded marketplace,” said Vanessa Ton, senior research and marketing intelligence manager at Cox Automotive.

“As the automotive landscape continues to shift and evolve with more and more electric vehicles entering the scene from various automakers every year, the experts at Kelley Blue Book found it suitable for the times to introduce a new award category this year, Best Overall EV Brand. Consumer perception data among new-car shoppers revealed Tesla as the first winner of this brand-new award category for 2023,” Ton added.

2023 Brand Image Award Winners: Non-Luxury Brands

Honda: Best Overall Brand

Toyota: Most Trusted Brand

Honda: Best Value Brand

Dodge: Most Refined Brand

Dodge: Best Performance Brand

Ford: Best Car Styling Brand

2023 Brand Image Award Winner: Truck Brand

Toyota: Best Overall Truck Brand

2023 Brand Image Award Winner: Electric Vehicle Brand

Tesla: Best Overall EV Brand

2023 Brand Image Award Winners: Luxury Brands

Tesla: Best Overall Luxury Brand

Lexus: Most Trusted Luxury Brand

Tesla: Best Value Luxury Brand

Tesla: Most Refined Luxury Brand

Tesla: Best Performance Luxury Brand

Porsche: Best Car Styling Luxury Brand

For more information about the 2023 Kelley Blue Book Brand Image Awards, visit this website.