IRVINE, Calif., April 17, 2019 – Automotive brands are among the most recognizable, most valued brands in the world. There are few products more ubiquitous in our day-to-day lives than the automobile and capturing the hearts and minds of car shoppers could mean more sales in the long run. Recognizing automakers’ outstanding achievements in creating and maintaining brand attributes that earn the attention and enthusiasm of new-car buyers, Kelley Blue Book today announces the 2019 Brand Image Award winners, based on annual new-car buyer perception data. Award categories are calculated among luxury, non-luxury and truck shoppers.

“Building familiarity and loyalty among car shoppers has never been more important to automakers, especially as the market is flooded with all-new and redesigned models competing for market share,” said Hwei-Lin Oetken, director of strategic insights for Kelley Blue Book. “Compelling product and marketing communications continues to influence purchase consideration. This year’s winners have attracted car shoppers based on many attributes that are important to consumers and motivate them toward their ultimate purchase decision.”

2019 Brand Image Award Winners: Non-Luxury Brands

2019 Brand Image Award Winner: Truck Brand

2019 Brand Image Award Winners:  Luxury Brands

For 2019, Honda wins Best Overall Brand for the second consecutive year. Honda achieved the highest average score across all ratings of non-luxury models. Honda’s sterling reputation for quality and breadth of its lineup is what makes it a repeat winner. On the luxury side, Lexus wins Best Overall Luxury Brand for the fourth year in a row, achieving the highest average score across all ratings of luxury models. The Lexus RX, LS, NX and ES consistently received high ratings among consumers, helping to drive the brand win. Most noteworthy, Toyota dethroned Ford and wins its second-ever Best Overall Truck Brand award. The Toyota Tundra and Tacoma received the No. 2 and No. 3 highest model rating in the latest Brand Watch study, pushing the brand to victory.

New to the winners’ circle for 2019 are Acura with it’s Best Value Luxury Brand win, Porsche for Best Car Styling Luxury Brand, Dodge for Best Car Styling Brand and Toyota as the Best Overall Truck Brand.

The 2019 Brand Image Awards are based on consumer automotive perception data from Kelley Blue Book Strategic Insights’ Brand Watch study. 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 highly comprehensive study offers insight into how shoppers perceive important factors driving their purchase decisions and captures brand/model familiarity and loyalty among new-car shoppers. For more information about the 2019 Kelley Blue Book Brand Image Awards, visit https://www.kbb.com/new-cars/brand-image-awards/.

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About Kelley Blue Book (www.kbb.com)

Founded in 1926, Kelley Blue Book, The Trusted Resource®, is the vehicle valuation and information source trusted and relied upon by both consumers and the automotive industry. Each week the company provides market-reflective values on its top-rated website KBB.com, including its famous Blue Book® Trade-In Values and Kelley Blue Book® Price Advisor tool, which provides a range for what consumers can reasonably expect to pay for a vehicle in their area. Car owners looking to sell immediately can also get a redeemable, transaction-ready offer with Kelley Blue BookSM Instant Cash Offer. The company also provides vehicle pricing and values through various products and services available to car dealers, auto manufacturers, finance and insurance companies, and governmental agencies. Kelley Blue Book is a Cox Automotive brand.

About Cox Automotive

Cox Automotive Inc. makes buying, selling, owning and using cars easier for everyone. The global company’s 34,000-plus team members and family of brands, including Autotrader®, Clutch Technologies, Dealer.com®, Dealertrack®, Kelley Blue Book®, Manheim®, NextGear Capital®, VinSolutions®, vAuto® and Xtime®, are passionate about helping millions of car shoppers, 40,000 auto dealer clients across five continents and many others throughout the automotive industry thrive for generations to come. Cox Automotive is a subsidiary of Cox Enterprises Inc., a privately-owned, Atlanta-based company with revenues exceeding $20 billion. coxautoinc.com