Car buyer brand perception for Chrysler vehicles has reached its highest point in two years.
Both Chrysler and GM have surged out of negative perception and into positive numbers over the past two months among potential car buyers, which may be why GM reported that its first quarter profit tripled, helped by somewhat stronger demand for its vehicles.
Both brands currently have a 11.7 Impression Score, a long way from Chrysler’s -9 score in early April and GM’s -4.8 in early March.
Ford, Chrysler, and GM were measured using YouGov BrandIndex’s Impression score, which asks respondents: "Do you have a positive or negative impression about the brand?"
However, GM’s financial moment of glory was muted by its recall of 170,000 cars, trucks and vans virtually the same day. This represents the hurdle GM and other US manufacturers face – when quality issues throw a wrench in the works.
By comparison, Ford continues to fly high, leading the Big Three with a 45 impression score. They’ve built up their reputation with potential car buyers so successfully, that even their recent recall of 1.2 million F-150 trucks for defective airbags had negligible impact on their score.
