IRVINE, Calif. -

The latest Kelley Blue Book Market Intelligence Brand Watch study provided Toyota with some positive news as 2010 draws near a close.

The embattled automaker that has seen recalls and litigation throughout the year is now again the most-considered auto brand among new-car shoppers, according to Kbb.com.

Site officials noted Toyota held the spot from the first quarter of 2007 through the third quarter of last year. They said negative attention allowed Ford to surge ahead and send Toyota into the No. 2 position for the fourth quarter of last year through the second quarter of 2010.

However for the third quarter of this year, Toyota now is the most-considered brand overall and in the non-luxury sedan/coupe/hatchback and non-luxury SUV/CUV segments. KBB also mentioned that consideration of Toyota trucks considerably rebounded as well.

Toyota’s margin for the top spot in KBB’s latest Brand Watch study isn’t large. Toyota came in at 25 percent with Ford right behind at 24 percent and Honda not far off the pace at 23 percent.

Rounding out the top five most-considered among the 37 new-vehicle brands tracked in the Kelley Blue Book Market Intelligence Study were Chevrolet (19 percent) and Nissan (17 percent).  Consideration for Korean automaker Hyundai — which KBB said ousted Nissan for the No. 5 spot last quarter — slipped to sixth place at 13 percent as Nissan’s consideration gained 3 percentage points since the second quarter of this year.

“The latest Brand Watch data from Kelley Blue Book Market Intelligence indicates that Toyota is slowly recovering from its public-perception crisis and regaining a position of prominence in the minds of new-car shoppers,” explained James Bell, executive market analyst for Kelley Blue Book’s Kbb.com.

“However, whether Toyota will ascend as high as it was before the recall crisis remains yet to be seen,” Bell continued. “Hot competition from the likes of Ford, Honda, Chevrolet, Nissan and Hyundai could make it very hard for Toyota to keep a strong lead moving forward.”

Overall for third quarter, KBB discovered new-car shoppers rank durability/reliability, fuel efficiency, driving comfort, driving performance and safety as the top five importance factors while shopping for their next new vehicle.

Specific to the non-luxury sedan/coupe/hatchback segment, site officials mentioned Hyundai consideration maintains a slight advantage at fourth place over fifth-place Nissan, following Toyota, Honda and Ford, respectively.  Additionally for the first time, they found Mitsubishi was the top-rated brand for “cool factor/vehicle image."

Moving on, KBB witnessed both Nissan and Jeep make significant increases in consideration for the SUV/CUV segment over the prior quarter. In addition, the site said Subaru gained its first appearance as the top-ranked brand among the importance factors of safety and versatility/flexibility.

Looking at the luxury sedan/coupe/hatchback segment, the site indicated BMW regained the top spot for consideration, followed by Lexus, Audi, Acura and Mercedes-Benz.  While Mercedes-Benz placed fifth for consideration in this segment, KBB noted it continued to garner the top rank for most of the factors of importance (driving comfort, safety, interior design/layout, luxuriousness/sophistication, prestige/brand status and family friendliness).

When reviewing the luxury SUV/CUV segment, site officials determined Lexus remained the most-considered brand, even though they said “the brand’s consideration has been eroding for the last few quarters.”  Following Lexus for top consideration of luxury SUV/CUVs were Acura, Cadillac, Lincoln and BMW.

Turning over to trucks, KBB found Ford continued to remain the most-considered truck brand, experiencing a dramatic increase in consideration since the second quarter of this year.

In addition, the site revealed the importance factor of safety edged out driving performance to round out the top factors of importance for trucks — durability/reliability, fuel efficiency, towing/hauling capacity, driving comfort and safety, respectively.

Wrapping up the analysis by vehicle segment, KBB insisted Honda continues to remain the most-considered minivan brand. Of all minivan brands, the site found only domestic automakers Chrysler and Dodge experienced a slight increase in minivan consideration in the third quarter over the previous quarter.