AutoPacific Announces 2010 Ideal Vehicle Awards

  Ideal Vehicles: Measuring Up To Expectations

Introduction

Each year AutoPacific surveys new car and light truck acquirers via mail and Internet about their new vehicle in order to learn more about their purchase experience, attribute importance and satisfaction, lifestyle, preferences, vehicle use, personal characteristics, desired features and more. The Ideal Vehicle Awards are based on scores developed using results from a part of this survey that focuses on the consumers desire to change their vehicle if given the opportunity. Respondents rate 15 attributes indicating whether they want them to be changed (larger, smaller, more or less) or not changed (stay the same) after having driven their vehicle for 90 days. The attributes all pertain directly to the product itself. 

The Ideal Vehicle Awards are just one of three awards given by AutoPacific throughout the year. Each year AutoPacific analyzes the results of our New Vehicle Satisfaction Survey and identifies the top performing vehicles. These are owners talking. And who better to evaluate a vehicle than the owners themselves?

Vehicle Satisfaction Award

Motorist Choice Award

The Research Suite^®

At the top of it all is AutoPacific's Research Suite, the full collection of data obtained through our annual New Vehicle Satisfaction Survey of new vehicle acquirers. This collection of data does more than just generate awards and is regularly used by Market Research, Product Planning, Advanced Technology, and Brand Positioning departments at OEMs, suppliers and advertising agencies worldwide. In fact, AutoPacific's Research Suite is the most comprehensive database available and is the source of several annual studies including:

• The Opportunity for Chinese and Indian Brands in the USA
  
• Small Cars in the USA: Planning for the Coming Boom
  
• Future Attribute Demand Study (FADS)
  
• Brand Retention and Nameplate Dynamics Study (BRANDS)
  
• Generation Y Opportunity
  
• Green Cars and Consumers
  
• Consumer Brand Study
  
• Vehicle Changes Study
  

AUTOPACIFIC ANNOUNCES 2010 IDEAL VEHICLE AWARDS

Survey of 42,000 Consumers Reveals Vehicles That Exceed Expectations. Ford and Porsche Score Third Straight Annual Wins.

TUSTIN, Calif. (July 13, 2010) – An “ideal” is defined as conforming to an ultimate standard of perfection or excellence. In the 2010 Ideal Vehicle Awards, announced today by automotive research and consulting firm AutoPacific, owners rate their new vehicles by how closely they come to their ideal. “After owning and operating a vehicle for some time, consumers often identity shortcomings, and ideas about what they would like to change about their vehicle,” says George Peterson, President of AutoPacific. “The IVAs are based on owners’ ratings of their new 2010 model year cars and trucks across 15 key vehicle attributes ranging from power and acceleration to interior storage. The cars or trucks that owners would change the least are the most ideal.”

“In today’s vehicle market, quality is expected, and car buyers take many factors into consideration – styling, safety features, fuel economy and more,” says Peterson. “IVA winners deliver the most of what consumers are really looking for in their vehicles. Shoppers can use the IVAs as a benchmark for vehicles that are designed and built with customers in mind.” 

“Ford Motor Company leads the industry with a total of eleven segment winners. No other manufacturer came even close,” said Peterson. “In addition to these eleven segment wins, the Ford brand scored highest of any brand in the 2010 research, including all premium brands.”

Of the twenty-seven Ideal Vehicle Award (IVA) categories, American brands have sixteen segment winners, European brands six and Japanese brands five. Surprisingly, no Korean brands scored segment wins.

The top-rated product segment is Large Crossover SUV, beating out last year’s leading category, Large Car. American buyers continue to value large, comfortable vehicles suitable for suburban driving and longer distance highway cruising.

2010 Ideal Premium Brand: Porsche

2010 Ideal Popular Brand and Top Brand Overall: Ford

2010 Ideal Product Segment: Large Crossover SUV

2010 Ideal Vehicle Award Winners:

*Also winners of AutoPacific's 2010 Vehicle Satisfaction Awards

In addition to identifying segment winners, IVA also establishes numerical ideal vehicle ratings for virtually every passenger car and light truck in the United States market. These results come from calculating owner input across 15 specific areas related to a vehicle's attributes, including: exterior styling, exterior size, passenger roominess, cargo space, driver's seat comfort, driver’s seat visibility, interior technology, interior lighting, power and acceleration, ease of getting in and out, interior storage compartments, ride, handling, safety features and tires and wheels.

About AutoPacific

AutoPacific is a future-oriented automotive marketing research and product-consulting firm. Every year AutoPacific publishes a wide variety of syndicated studies on the automotive industry. The firm, founded in 1986, also conducts extensive proprietary research and consulting for auto manufacturers, distributors, marketers and suppliers worldwide. Company headquarters and its state-of-the-art automotive research facility are in Tustin, California, with an affiliate office in the Detroit area. Additional information can be found on AutoPacific's websites: http://www.autopacific.com and http://news.vehiclevoice.com.

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Contacts:  

Dan Hall, AutoPacific, (714) 838-4234, dan.hall@autopacific.com

Deborah Grieb, AutoPacific, (734) 446-6940, deborah.grieb@autopacific.com