Volkswagen remains behind its mainstream rivals with convincing potential U.S. car buyers to consider purchasing its vehicles over the past 18 months.
This long-time flat trend may, in part, be behind the resignation of the car maker’s chairman of the board last month, although the company is profitable with global sales passing the 10 million mark last year.
Key potential revenue metrics have barely changed since January 2014 for Volkswagen: 14% to 17% of potential car buyers would consider purchasing a Volkswagen the next time they were in the market to buy an automobile. Compare those percentages with, for example, Chevrolet increasing from 22% to 29% over the past 10 months, or Ford, which currently tracks at 41% or Toyota at 35%.
A brighter spot for Volkswagen: the car maker is tracking as a slightly healthier brand than Chevrolet with potential car buyers, according to YouGov BrandIndex’s Index score, which averages sub-scores on quality, satisfaction, impression, value, reputation and willingness to recommend. However, Volkswagen is still well behind Honda, Toyota and Ford, three of their mainstream competitors.
YouGov BrandIndex’s Index score can range from 100 to -100 with a zero score equaling a neutral position.
