Tesla overtakes Ford in U.S. brand loyalty award for first time

General Motors and Tesla are the big winners in the 2022 Automotive Loyalty Awards, with Tesla topping Ford for U.S. brand loyalty for the first time, S&P Global Mobility said Monday.

Despite a three-year industrywide drop in customer loyalty, GM managed to win the "Overall Loyalty to Manufacturer" award for the eighth-straight year. Industrywide shortages have caused customers to shop for other brands, prompting industry average loyalty to drop from 54.6 percent in 2019 to 50.2 percent in 2022.

GM sees a consistent demand for its SUVs and pickups as inventory levels rise, S&P Global Mobility said in a statement.

"The past three years have been a challenge for the automotive industry," Joe LaFeir, S&P Global Mobility president, said in the statement. "As customers are returning back to market post pandemic and inventory levels have slowly improved from last year's lows, retaining loyal customers has been more challenging than ever before."

Shortages have impacted domestic manufacturers this year — particularly Ford Motor Co.

Tesla's win for "Overall Loyalty to Make" marks the first year in the last decade that Ford has not won the award, said Vince Palomarez, S&P Global Mobility product manager.

Ford won the award in 2021 for the 12th consecutive year, powered by its customers' long-standing allegiance to F-Series trucks.

Tesla's brand resonance with ethnic consumers drove its loyalty numbers and diversity retention, S&P Global Mobility said.

"Ethnic buyers have increased their market share in the industry every year for the last decade, making them an important audience in building loyalty success for the foreseeable future," Palomarez said.

Ethnic consumers comprised 40 percent of personal vehicle registration in 2022, adding to its importance in the loyalty awards program, a report said. Tesla won this year's "Ethnic Market Loyalty to Make" award with 52 percent of their loyal volume coming from ethnic consumers.

Elon Musk's automaker also scored repeat wins for "Highest Conquest Percentage" and "Alternative Powertrain Loyalty to Make." It won "Most Improved Loyalty to Make" and two segment model loyalty awards for the Tesla Model 3 sedan and the Tesla Model Y crossover.

This year's awards show that electric vehicles are starting to gain more of a foothold in the industry in terms of market share, Palomarez told Automotive News.

Mercedes-Benz won "Most Improved Alternative Powertrain Loyalty to Make" award — the brand's launch of the electric EQS contributing to its ability to retain loyalty to brand and battery electric vehicles or hybrid powertrains.

Subaru also won "Overall Loyalty to Dealer" for the first time — 38 percent of Subaru owners buy their next vehicle from the same dealer.

The loyalty awards stem from an analysis of 11.7 million new U.S. retail vehicle registrations in 2022. S&P Global Mobility said loyalty "is determined when a household that owns a new vehicle returns to market and acquired another new vehicle of the same make, model or manufacturer. The newly acquired vehicle may be either a replacement or an addition to the household fleet."

This is the 27th year for the loyalty awards, which were previously conducted by IHS Markit before the firm merged with S&P Global in February 2022.