Tesla Inc. is a major force in luxury brand loyalty, and it is not slowing down.
That was the conclusion of Tom Libby, associate director and loyalty principal at S&P Global Mobility, during a webinar Tuesday.
The webinar, titled "Baker's Dozen: 13 Takeaways From Today's New Vehicle Loyalty Landscape," aimed to examine trends of brand loyalty data amid industrywide inventory shortages. The data was compiled from January 2020 through April 2022.
Brand loyalty is calculated by what percentage of customers choose the same brand when trading in or purchasing their next vehicle.
Overall, automotive brand loyalty fell since the beginning of inventory shortages in March 2021. Mainstream brands, such as Ford, Hyundai and Chevrolet, saw their loyalty rates decline from an average of 54.8 percent in the 14 months before the shortage began to an average of 52.1 percent in the 14 months after — a decline of 2.7 percentage points.
Luxury was hit far worse. The sector, which includes brands such as Lincoln, Jaguar and Porsche, had brand loyalty drop by 4.7 percentage points to an average of 46.3 percent in the same period.
The worst-hit luxury brands were Porsche and Land Rover, with Porsche's loyalty down by 8.5 points and Land Rover's down by 9.2.