American Brands Rate High

Driving Today, December 10, 2008

American car manufacturers are looking for government help, but a new study shows some of their brands out-rate the top Japanese brands. For legislators seeking to learn if the American car companies are viable, this might be a sign that the companies have some life left in them.

There is little doubt that American car companies are in trouble, but there may be a ray of hope from a new study of consumer opinions. The analysis of consumer comments about non-luxury car brands collected from leading automotive review Web sites indicates that top American auto brands received higher ratings from online consumers than did competing Japanese brands. Overall, Ford and Chevrolet outranked Honda and Toyota on Biz360's "Net Advocacy" measurement, a metric that quantifies public opinion. In addition, Honda and Toyota accounted for a higher percentage of negative opinions than their two domestic counterparts.

In the course of the study, Biz360 analyzed nearly 300,000 online opinions, culled from review Web sites, such as Auto Mall USA, IntelliChoice and Yahoo Autos, for a one-year period that ended on November 1. The result of the study surprised many industry experts who still rate Japanese-brand cars higher than American-brand models.

"The results of the analysis are encouraging for the domestic brands," said Stephen Foster, who is Biz360's senior director of analyst services. "They indicate that certain American car brands are considered superior to equivalent Japanese brands by consumers when they discuss the key attributes of performance, comfort and exterior styling."