Ford, GM Top Japanese Rivals in American Customer Loyalty

Ford Motor Co. posted the U.S car market's highest owner repurchase rate in the fourth quarter of 2012, according to Experian Automotive.

The auto data provider says 47.9% of existing Ford customers who bought a new vehicle in the period opted for a Ford or Lincoln model.

General Motors ranked a close second in loyalty in the October-December period with 47.7% of its customers returning for another GM vehicle.

The top 10 also included Toyota (46.9%), Daimler (43.4%), Honda (41.8%), Kia (40%), Hyundai and Subaru (tied at 38.9%), Chrysler (38.1%) and BMW (37%).

Ford also dominated at the individual vehicle level in the fourth quarter with a record eight of the top 10 models by loyalty. The Ford models, whose scores ranged from 60% for the Fusion midsize sedan to 49.3% for the Taurus sedan, also included the Flex, Edge and Escape crossover vehicles and the Focus compact and Fiesta subcompact cars.

The only non-Ford models in the top 10 were Kia's Forte compact car and GM's Chevrolet Sonic subcompact.

Separately, Experian reports that the average length of vehicle ownership slid to 66.2 months last year from 68.1 months in 2011.