Automedont

It’s interesting that despite crises such models that Chevrolet, Ford, and Subaru have benefited from a dramatic increase in overall brand perception among car owners. According CONSUMER REPORTS the scores reflect consumers’ total perception level of a brand across those categories, and not the actual qualities of the brand’s individual vehicles.

Toyota maintained its Number one spot. But overall score improvements helped Ford to slip past Honda into second place and allowed Chevrolet to rise to fourth place, from ninth. Subaru’s 39-point increase, which was the largest of any brand and almost double its 2009 score, boosted the brand to ninth place, from last year’s 18th position.

At the other end of the spectrum, the two lowest-scoring brands were Hummer and Saab—divisions that General Motors has struggled to sell. Luxury brands saw the greatest decreases in overall scores, with Porsche (-13 points), Lexus (-15), Cadillac (-15), Infiniti (-21), and Lincoln (-25) moving in the wrong direction.

Clearly, several brands emerged from the 2009 auto crisis stronger than others, and the way consumers perceive the brands is in constant change.