After several years of car-buying challenges due to production complications from the pandemic, 2024 is finally a great time for consumers to buy a new car with supply evening out and more deals becoming available. Yet, while some of the challenges have eased up, buying a new car is still a huge purchase decision where shoppers devote hours to researching which brand and model is best for them, and consumer perception weighs heavily into this process.
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, announced the winners of the 2024 Consumer Choice Awards. These awards, formerly known as the Brand Image Awards, are based on annual new-car shopper perception study data. Award categories are calculated among in-market luxury and non-luxury, including truck and electric vehicle (EV)/hybrid shoppers who plan to purchase within the next 12 months.
“Honda is the major winner in this year’s Consumer Choice Awards, nearly sweeping all of the non-luxury categories and taking home more wins than any other automaker for 2024,” said Vanessa Ton, senior research and market intelligence manager at Cox Automotive. “While the award methodology has not changed, we changed the award name this year from the Brand Image Awards, what it has been known for more than 15 years, to the Consumer Choice Awards for 2024 and moving forward to better reflect that these wins are voted on and determined by actual in-market shoppers on Kelley Blue Book’s KBB.com. Consumer perception is a crucial factor in new-car purchase decisions, and we wanted to clarify that these awards are directly from the voice of consumers.”
2024 Kelley Blue Book Consumer Choice Winners: Non-Luxury Brands
| Honda | Best Overall Brand |
| Honda | Most Trusted Brand |
| Honda | Best Value Brand |
| Honda | Best Performance Brand |
| Honda | Best In-Vehicle Experience Brand |
| Dodge | Best Car Styling Brand |
2024 Kelley Blue Book Consumer Choice Winner: Truck Brand
| Ram | Best Overall Truck Brand |
2024 Kelley Blue Book Consumer Choice Winner: EV/Hybrid Brand
| Honda | Best Overall EV/Hybrid Brand |
2024 Kelley Blue Book Consumer Choice Winners: Luxury Brands
| Lexus | Best Overall Luxury Brand |
| Lexus | Most Trusted Luxury Brand |
| Buick | Best Value Luxury Brand |
| Mercedes-Benz | Most Refined Luxury Brand |
| Mercedes-Benz | Best Car Styling Luxury Brand |
| Porsche | Best Performance Luxury Brand |
Honda is the big champion in consumer perception for 2024, sweeping all but one of the non-luxury category awards. This year, Honda is named Best Overall Brand, Most Trusted Brand, Best Value Brand, Best Performance Brand and Best In-Vehicle Experience Brand, among all non-luxury automakers. Honda also was named Best EV/Hybrid Brand among all automakers, both non-luxury and luxury. Honda takes home the Best Overall Brand Award for the eighth time in the past 11 years, achieving the highest average scores across all ratings of non-luxury models. In addition, Honda impressively claims the Best Value Brand Award for the tenth straight year.
Ram claims the Best Overall Truck Brand Award for 2024, following five straight years of Toyota winning the honor. Additionally, Dodge wins Best Car Styling Brand among non-luxury automakers for the fifth time in the past six years, reclaiming the award from last year’s winner, Ford.
Among luxury automakers, Lexus wins Best Overall Luxury Brand and Most Trusted Luxury Brand. Lexus has notably dominated the Most Trusted Luxury Brand Award for nine years straight, including 11 out of the past 12 years. Mercedes-Benz brings home two 2024 Consumer Choice Awards for Most Refined Luxury Brand and Best Car Styling Luxury Brand. Porsche reclaims the Best Performance Brand Award from last year’s winner Tesla, firmly reinstating Porsche into a category it has won several times in the past. Buick wins Best Value Luxury Brand this year, after Tesla won the award for the previous four years.
EV sales growth has slowed while competition has intensified in the marketplace, shifting the balance of power among brands. Tesla faces grueling competition from both legacy and start-up brands, challenging the company’s market share as their limited model lineup continues to age. For 2024, brands offering a selection of powertrains and fresh, new products focusing on key pillars such as quality, design and innovation, came out on top in the Consumer Choice Awards, edging out Tesla.
The 2024 Kelley Blue Book Consumer Choice 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 purchase consideration among new-car shoppers.
