SANTA BARBARA, Calif.,
March 24, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --
Toyota's Perceived Quality Score rose four percent over the last
six months and Lexus once again captured the luxury category's
highest Perceived Quality rating in 2011, according to the Spring
2011 Perceived Quality Study (PQS) from ALG, a subsidiary of
DealerTrack Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: TRAK) and the industry
benchmark for residual values and depreciation data. The
study also shows that Land Rover (up 2.5 percent) and Kia (up 5.6
percent) experienced the biggest gains in perception among luxury
and mainstream brands respectively.
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"The continued rebound of Toyota is a testament to the brand's
solid reputation for quality and ownership loyalty. Toyota
isn't out of the woods yet, however, as the company faces the
repercussions of another large recall earlier this year," states
Eric Lyman, director, Residual Value
Solutions, ALG. "We also see the success of Land Rover being
fueled by the growing popularity of its driver-oriented Range Rover
Sport and the Evoque, helping the brand slowly notch perception
improvements. For Kia, the consumer quality recognition is
the payoff for a recent revolution in product quality and design
supported by aggressive marketing campaigns."
For its PQS, ALG surveys approximately 3,000-4,000 U.S.
consumers twice a year to gauge perceptions of a number of luxury
and mainstream automotive brands. According to Lyman,
"Perception is a powerful force in consumer buying behavior.
Our PQS has become the barometer by which the automotive
retail industry measures consumer perceptions and beliefs. A
negative perception can dramatically affect a brand's entire
lineup, while a positive perception can boost sales
tremendously."
Additional highlights from the survey include: in the luxury
category, Lexus topped the charts with an overall PQS of 83 (out of
100) followed by Mercedes (82.7 and -1.4 percent vs. the Fall 2010
Study), BMW (80.2; +1.7 percent), Porsche (79.7; - 0.6 percent) and
Acura (78.1; +0.9 percent). Honda (81.2; -0.2 percent) once
again led the mainstream brands and Toyota (73.5; +4.0 percent)
rebounded from a firestorm of negative publicity early last year to
finish the year strong. Ford Trucks (71.2; +1.9 percent),
Subaru (70.6; +2.5 percent) and Nissan (69.8; +1.2 percent)
finished third, fourth and fifth, respectively, in the mainstream
category.
The complete list with scores and details is available at:
https://www.alg.com/pdf/pqs_2011_spring.pdf
About ALG (www.alg.com)
Based in Santa Barbara,
California, ALG is a leading provider of data and consulting
services to the automotive industry. ALG publishes the
"Automotive Lease Guide" – the standard for residual value
projections in North America, and
has been forecasting automotive residual values for over 45 years
in both the U.S. and Canadian markets. ALG is a company of
DealerTrack Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: TRAK).
About DealerTrack
(www.dealertrack.com/)
DealerTrack's intuitive and high-value software solutions and
services enhance efficiency and profitability for all major
segments of the retail automotive industry, including dealers,
lenders, OEMs, agents and aftermarket providers. The Company,
whose solution set for dealers is the industry's most
comprehensive, operates the largest online credit application
network in the United States,
connecting approximately 17,000 dealers with more than 1,000
lenders. DealerTrack's Dealer Management System (DMS) provides
dealers with easy-to-use tools and real-time data access to enhance
their efficiency, while DealerTrack AAX delivers the inventory
management tools and services needed to accelerate used-vehicle
turn rate and help increase profits for dealers. The
Company's Sales and F&I solutions allow dealers to streamline
the entire sales process as they structure deals from a single
integrated platform, while also giving dealerships the ability to
leverage vehicle registration and titling services through
DealerTrack. Its Compliance Solution helps dealers meet legal
and regulatory requirements and protect their assets. For lenders,
DealerTrack's Processing Solutions offers services including
titling, collateral management, and digital document services.
DealerTrack's family of companies also includes data and consulting
service providers ALG and Chrome Systems. For more information,
visit www.dealertrack.com.
Safe Harbor for Forward-Looking and Cautionary
Statements
Statements in this press release regarding the ALG PQS are
forward-looking statements (as defined in the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995). These statements involve a
number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause
actual results, performance or achievements of DealerTrack to be
materially different from any future results, performance or
achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking
statements.
Factors that might cause such a difference include the accuracy
of the PQS results and other risks listed in our reports filed with
the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including our Annual
Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010. These filings can be found on
DealerTrack's website at www.dealertrack.com and the SEC's website
at www.sec.gov. Forward-looking statements included herein speak
only as of the date hereof and DealerTrack disclaims any obligation
to revise or update such statements to reflect events or
circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of
unanticipated events or circumstances.
TRAK-G
SOURCE DealerTrack Holdings, Inc.