March 31, 2011 — A recent Polk evaluation of 2010 year-end repeat vehicle buyers found that Ford had the highest loyalty, followed by General Motors and Toyota.

The study examined 5.2 million new-vehicle-buying households. Households that own a new vehicle and returned to the market to purchase or lease another new vehicle of the same make or model were considered loyal.

The top year-end loyalty earners were Ford with 60.3 percent, GM with 59.9 percent and Toyota with 58.8 percent.

Polk, a global automotive information and marketing firm, has been calculating loyalty data since 1996 and has seen significant growth in recent years.

“Loyalty measurements are an important aspect of any customer retention strategy, but the real value is derived from the various consumer marketing and field training strategies created from the measurements,” said Brad Smith, director of Polk’s loyalty management practice. “Manufacturers have been placing greater emphasis on owner loyalty over the last several years and these efforts can be seen with the increases during 2010.”

For more on Polk’s loyalty studies, click here.