King of the loyalty castle in spite of what the peasants in the media assert.

Japanese makers Toyota and Honda took top honors in the R. L. Polk & Co.’s 14th Annual Automotive Loyalty Awards.

Toyota ranked number one in Overall Loyalty to a Manufacturer at almost 60%, which indicates a manufacturer’s ability to retain previous customers. Honda was at 55%.

Toyota beat General Motors for the first time in nine years, likely as a result of its well-publicized bankruptcy, subsequent cancellation of four brands, Pontiac, Saturn, Saab and Hummer, and ongoing losses. All of course are devastating to the confidence of potential purchasers.

An earlier Polk study indicates the magnitude of a loyalty problem GM faces after canceling brands. Based on data from January through August 2009, three-quarters of the defectors (75%)  from GM brands purchased an import car or truck, while 25% bought a Ford or Chrysler product.

Top non-GM models purchased by former Saturn owners during this period are the Toyota Corolla, Honda Accord, Honda CR-V and the Toyota Camry. The top-selling domestic vehicle to defected Saturn owners are the Ford Fusion, the Ford Escape and the Ford Focus though  in smaller volumes.

In the  latest study, Toyota won top honors in the Mid/Full-Size Car and Mid/Full-Size SUV categories for the Toyota Prius and Lexus RX respectively, and received the new award for brand loyalty among Asian American consumers.

Loyalty, as Polk defines it, is determined when a household that owns a new vehicle returns to the auto market and purchases or leases another new vehicle of the same model or make.

The numbers, arguably, refute a growing chorus of media claims that Toyota is suffering from an image problem due to well-publicized recalls for unintended acceleration and rusting, as well as customer complaints about the braking performance of the Prius hybrid model, amongother issues.

Honda took top honors in the Overall Loyalty to Make category, reflecting the weakness of its Acura luxury brand when compared with Lexus, the U.S. market luxury leader for almost two decades.

Honda also won a newly introduced African American and Hispanic Loyalty to Make Awards, which purportedly recognize customer loyalty among these ethnic groups.

Current media darling Ford took two awards: The F-Series earned the Mid/Full-Size Pickup spot, and Mustang repeated in the Sports Car category.

Other repeat winners included Subaru Forester in the Compact SUV segment, Land Rover Range Rover in the Luxury SUV category, and Chrysler Town & Country, which has won the Minivan segment for the past eight years.

“Maintaining a solid loyal customer base is not easy, but it is essential to survive in today’s competitive environment,” claimed Stephen Polk, chairman, president and CEO of R. L. Polk & Co.

The Polk Manufacturer Loyalty Excelerator (sic) Report is the basis for the Polk Automotive Loyalty Awards. This report, introduced to the automotive industry in 1995, was created to provide data, perhaps insights, into household consumer loyalty to automotive manufacturers at different levels.

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