Kelley Blue Book Announces Winners of 2023 Brand Image Awards, Including All-New Best EV Brand Award

Consumer Perception of Tesla Remains High Among New-Car Shoppers as Brand Nearly Sweeps Luxury Award Categories

ATLANTA, April 5, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Buying a new car is one of the largest purchase decisions consumers make in their lifetime, and most buyers do not go into the process lightly, devoting hours to researching which make and model choice is right for them. What consumers think about a brand ultimately can equate to make or break for that company, so capturing positive consumer attention is imperative for success – a fact automakers know all too well. Recognizing automakers' outstanding achievements in creating and maintaining brand attributes that earn the attention and enthusiasm of new-car buyers, Kelley Blue Book, a Cox Automotive company, today announces the 2023 Brand Image Award winners, based on annual new-car buyer perception study data. Award categories are calculated among in-market luxury, non-luxury, truck and electric vehicle (EV) shoppers who plan to purchase within the next 12 months.

"Kelley Blue Book's Brand Image Awards celebrate the automakers capturing the most attention from new-car shoppers, which is quite a feat considering the increasingly crowded marketplace," said Vanessa Ton, senior research and marketing intelligence manager at Cox Automotive. "As the automotive landscape continues to shift and evolve with more and more electric vehicles entering the scene from various automakers every year, the experts at Kelley Blue Book found it suitable for the times to introduce a new award category this year, Best Overall EV Brand. Consumer perception data among new-car shoppers revealed Tesla as the first winner of this brand-new award category for 2023."

2023 Brand Image Award Winners: Non-Luxury Brands

2023 Brand Image Award Winner: Truck Brand

2023 Brand Image Award Winner: Electric Vehicle Brand

2023 Brand Image Award Winners: Luxury Brands

Tesla impressively sweeps nearly all of the luxury brand awards for 2023. Tesla wins Best Overall Luxury Brand for the fourth year running, achieving the highest average score across all ratings of luxury models to win the award. In addition, Tesla claims the all-new 2023 Best Overall EV Brand award, which is calculated based on 12 factors of importance among all automotive brands that have at least one EV in their model lineup. Tesla also takes home specific awards this year for Best Value Luxury Brand and Most Refined Luxury Brand, claiming both honors for the fourth year in a row. To round out its five 2023 Brand Image Award wins, Tesla wins Best Performance Brand for 2023, besting last year's winner Porsche. Tesla's several 2023 Brand Image Award wins are thanks to the brand's superior technology innovations, unparalleled performance, and its refined, striking designs.

For the seventh time in the past 10 years, Honda wins Best Overall Brand for 2023 among non-luxury automakers. Honda achieved the highest average score across all ratings of non-luxury models to win the Best Overall Brand. In addition, Honda takes home the award once again for Best Value Brand in 2023, an award it impressively has claimed for nine years straight. Honda's 2023 Brand Image Award wins are thanks to the brand's reputation for excellence, including superior value for the money and solid MPG.

Toyota wins Best Overall Truck Brand in 2023 for the fifth year in a row. Toyota achieved the highest average score across all ratings of truck models and 12 weighted factors of importance. Toyota's consecutive years of winning Best Overall Truck Brand are thanks to its truck models offering outstanding features and stylish designs without sacrificing quality, performance or safety. Toyota also takes home Most Trusted Brand for 2023, an award Subaru previously won from 2015 – 2022, demonstrating the brand's focus and commitment in 2023 to delivering vehicles that consumers trust.

Beyond the top overall brands, other automakers gained noteworthy Brand Image Award wins for 2023. Dodge wins Best Performance Brand for 2023, an award Subaru won for the previous three years. Dodge also wins Most Refined Brand among non-luxury shoppers this year, bringing home the trophy over last year's winner Honda. Ford wins its first Brand Image Award win since 2018 by taking home this year's Best Car Styling Brand award among non-luxury shoppers, thanks to the striking design of the Mustang. This is the first time in 10 years Ford has won the coveted Best Car Styling Brand award, a win Dodge previously won for the previous four years. In addition, Porsche wins this year's Best Car Styling Luxury Brand, an award it previously won in 2021 and 2022. To round out the 2023 Brand Image Award winners, Lexus once again wins Most Trusted Luxury Brand, an award it notably has dominated for eight years straight and one it has captured 10 times in the last 11 years.

The 2023 Brand Image Awards are based on consumer automotive perception data from Kelley Blue Book's Brand Watch study. Kelley Blue Book's Brand Watch is an online brand and model perception tracking study, which taps into more than 12,000 in-market new-vehicle shoppers annually on KBB.com. The highly comprehensive study offers insight into how shoppers perceive important factors driving their purchase decisions and captures brand/model familiarity and consideration among new-car shoppers. For more information about the 2023 Kelley Blue Book Brand Image Awards, visit https://www.kbb.com/awards/brand-image-awards/.

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About Kelley Blue Book 
Founded in 1926, Kelley Blue Book, The Trusted Resource^®, is the vehicle valuation and information source trusted and relied upon by both consumers and the automotive industry for nearly a century. As the industry standard for generations, Kelley Blue Book provides transparent, objective information and data-driven, innovative tools for consumers, automotive dealers and manufacturers. The company publishes millions of market-reflective values weekly on its top-rated website KBB.com, from its famous Blue Book^® Trade-In Values to the Kelley Blue Book^® Price Advisor tool, which offers a range for what consumers reasonably can expect to pay for a vehicle in their area. KBB.com editors rate and review hundreds of new vehicles each year to help consumers understand the Best Cars and Best SUVs to meet their needs. Kelley Blue Book^SM Instant Cash Offer provides a redeemable trade-in offer to transaction-ready consumers and conveniently connects them to local participating dealers. Kelley Blue Book's Service Advisor provides guidance on how much to pay for service and repairs, allowing consumers to schedule service with local dealers on KBB.com. The company also provides vehicle values to finance and insurance companies as well as governmental agencies. Kelley Blue Book is a Cox Automotive brand.

About Cox Automotive
Cox Automotive is the world's largest automotive services and technology provider. Fueled by the largest breadth of first-party data fed by 2.3 billion online interactions a year, Cox Automotive tailors leading solutions for car shoppers, automakers, dealers, retailers, lenders and fleet owners. The company has 25,000+ employees on five continents and a family of trusted brands that includes Autotrader®, Dealertrack®, Kelley Blue Book®, Manheim®, NextGear Capital™ and vAuto®. Cox Automotive is a subsidiary of Cox Enterprises Inc., a privately-owned, Atlanta-based company with $22 billion in annual revenue. Visit coxautoinc.com or connect via @CoxAutomotive on Twitter, CoxAutoInc on Facebook or Cox-Automotive-Inc on LinkedIn. 

SOURCE Kelley Blue Book