R. L. Polk & Co., a provider of consumer loyalty information among new vehicles, recently presented the 12th Annual Polk Automotive Loyalty Awards at the 2008 Automotive News World Congress with General Motors and Toyota once again taking the top awards. Winning the Overall Manufacturer award by demonstrating the greatest ability to retain previous customers for a record eighth consecutive year was General Motors. GM also secured six additional awards including honors for its Chevrolet Suburban, Silverado, Impala, Saturn ION, Pontiac Solstice and the Cadillac Escalade for the 2007 model year, which ended Sept. 30. Toyota was also a big winner, taking repeat honors in the Overall Make category award for posting the highest make loyalty to an automotive division. It was also recognized with five segment loyalty awards. Toyota Prius repeated as the midsize car segment winner and Toyota Tacoma repeated as the compact pickup segment winner. Lexus, the luxury division of Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc., was a repeat winner in the midsize SUV segment for its Lexus RX, marking the third consecutive win. The Lexus ES was a first time winner in the Luxury Car segment and Lexus LS was a five-time winner in the Prestige Luxury Car segment. Overall for the industry, make loyalty for the 2007 model year was 44.84 percent. Recent studies by Polk show consumers are consistently more loyal to Asian brands (47.98 percent), versus European (38.13 percent) and domestic makes (43.74 percent). Other vehicles capturing loyalty honors were the Chrysler Town & Country in the minivan category, Honda CR-V in the compact SUV category and the Jaguar XK in the prestige sports car category.
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