On the strength of vehicles like the Accord, above, Honda captured the Best Overall Brand award in Kelley Blue Book's 2014 Brand Image Award survey.
For the second consecutive year, new car buyers voted Honda “Best Overall Brand” in Kelley Blue Book’s annual Brand Image Award study. The company also took the “Most Trusted Brand” honor for the third straight year.
Kelley Blue Book, also known as KBB, gives out awards in 13 categories. Among luxury brands, Mercedes-Benz was named the Best Overall Brand. Ford grabbed the Best Overall Brand award for trucks.
“A brand is really built over the long haul through consumers’ experiences with its products, and Honda is committed to delivering class-leading vehicles that provide lasting enjoyment and value to our customers,” said Jeff Conrad, senior vice president and general manager of the Honda automobile division for American Honda, in a statement. “Honda simply embraces the challenge of being a brand that people can trust.”
The 2014 Mercedes S63 AMG 4Matic is faster than a Porsche 911 Carrera S. The AMG line-up helped Mercedes get named the Best Overall Luxury Brand.
Honda’s win wasn’t a big surprise as the company boasted the highest average scores among all 12 Brand Watch factors, including affordability, “cool” factor, driving comfort, driving performance, durability/reliability, exterior styling, fuel efficiency, interior layout, prestige/sophistication, reputation, ruggedness and safety (listed in alphabetical order).
Strong consumer perception of the Accord, Civic, CR-V and Odyssey helped drive Honda’s success in earning the top honor among all automakers, KBB said.
(Toyota recalling 6.4 million vehicles worldwide. For more, Click Here.)
“Considering Honda has also won the award for Most Trusted Brand among non-luxury shoppers three years in a row, this win isn’t a huge surprise,” the publication noted.
The other awards for non-luxury brands included:
- Best Value Brand – Kia
- Most Refined Brand – GMC
- Best Performance Brand – Mini
- Best Car Styling Brand – Chevrolet
- Most Trusted Luxury Brand – Lexus
- Best Value Luxury Brand – Buick
- Most Refined Luxury Brand – Mercedes-Benz
- Best Performance Luxury Brand – Porsche
- Best Car Styling Luxury Brand – Jaguar
The tug of war for luxury dominance between BMW and Mercedes-Benz – the latter captured the sales crown from BMW in the U.S. last year – also played out the in the surveys as Mercedes took the luxury crown this year.
(Click Here to get details on Ford’s 2015 Focus sedan.)
Mercedes obtained the top average Brand Watch factor scores among all luxury makes, plus it was “highly regarded with its strong lineup and performance AMG variants,” according to KBB.
(To see more about GM facing $7,000 a day in fines due to recall probe, Click Here.)
Ford reclaimed the top spot among truck shoppers, ousting last year’s winner, Toyota, from the Best Overall Truck Brand category. Ford has won five out of six times Kelley Blue Book has announced this award. The F-150 and Super Duty F-250 and F-350 helped the manufacturer earn back the award for 2014, as truck shoppers ranked the brand highest among all other truck brands.
KBB.com secured responses from more than 12,000 new car and truck shoppers to get their opinions about various brands. The company breaks the awards down into 13 categories and divides potential buyers in the luxury and non-luxury purchasers.