Brand loyalty slides in 2021

In a year defined by short supplies of new vehicles, consumer loyalty dropped by more than 3 percentage points, according to U.S. registration data analysis by Experian.

Loyalty by brand through August fell to 58.6 percent from 61.7 percent a year earlier, according to Experian. Only 13 of 45 brands saw gains in loyalty, excluding Polestar, which began deliveries in December 2020.

The gainers included several low-volume, high-end luxury makes, such as Aston Martin, Rolls-Royce and Bentley.

Among mainstream brands, notable gainers include Toyota, Nissan, Ram, Dodge and Mitsubishi.

Only three brands beat the average by more than 10 percentage points, all topping 70 percent: Ferrari, Freightliner and Tesla. Ferrari's 75.8 percent loyalty was the highest in the industry; a year earlier, fast-growing Tesla was No. 1 with 77.9 percent loyalty.

The loyalty laggard was Fiat at just 6.2 percent, down from 10.2 percent a year earlier. But while every General Motors and Ford Motor Co. brand saw declining loyalty, four of Stellantis' seven brands sold in the U.S. improved: Dodge, Ram, Alfa Romeo and Maserati. The company's overall make loyalty rose to 47.9 percent from 46.3 percent.