Ford kept 66.2% of its truck owners buying another Ford, the highest repeat-purchase rate in any segment of J.D. Power's 2026 U.S. Automotive Brand Loyalty Study and the brand's fifth consecutive truck title. The study, published in October 2026, found industry-wide loyalty climbing to 50.2% across all nameplates and segments, up from 49% a year earlier, in a year marked by stretched budgets, a volatile economy and tariff threats.

Those disruptions never broke buyer habits. Automakers absorbed most of the added costs, and owners held their course. More than half of the owners who returned to market stayed with the brand in their driveway, handing competitors fewer conquest opportunities than economic conditions had threatened.

How the study measures loyalty

The eighth annual edition draws on transaction data from the Power Information Network covering September 2025 through August 2026, including trade-ins of every model year. Loyalty means the share of owners who buy the same brand when trading in or purchasing their next vehicle. Only sales through new-vehicle franchise dealers count. Automakers use the findings to track loyalty trends and brand advocacy while shaping brand development and conquest strategy.

The published results name the top two brands in each of five segments: premium car, premium SUV, mass market car, mass market SUV and truck. Brands below second place receive no published rates.

Who won each segment?

• Truck: Ford, 66.2%; Toyota second, 62.2%
• Mass market car: Toyota, 64.8%; Honda second, 57.5%
• Mass market SUV: Toyota, 63.8%; Honda second, 63.0%
• Premium car: Porsche, 61.3%; BMW second, 49.3%
• Premium SUV: Lexus, 59.2%; BMW second, 56.4%

Why does Toyota dominate the mass market?

Toyota secured repeat purchases from 64.8% of its mass market car owners, a fifth straight segment title. That rate runs 14.6 percentage points above the all-industry average, a margin over the benchmark second only to Ford's. Honda finished second at 57.5%, 7.3 points back — the second-widest gap between any published first- and second-place pair, behind only Porsche's margin over BMW in premium cars.

Toyota also won mass market SUV at 63.8%, just 0.8 point ahead of Honda's 63.0% — the closest finish in the study. No other segment winner cleared its runner-up by less than two points, and no other class placed both top brands above 63%. Toyota's SUV rate sits 13.6 points above the study-wide average. Mass market SUV is the one segment where the findings leave the winner's streak length unstated; each of the other four winners carries a stated multiyear run.

Toyota appears in the top two of three segments, more than any other brand. Its floor of 62.2% in trucks marks a level no other brand in the selection reaches in more than one segment, and the spread between its best and worst classes runs narrower than the gaps in Honda's or BMW's two results.

What does Ford's truck streak mean?

Ford's 66.2% extends a run spanning five of the study's eight editions. Toyota trailed by 4.0 points at 62.2%, a middle-of-the-pack gap: wider than either SUV race, narrower than either car class. Trucks and mass market SUVs are the only classes where both published brands clear 60%.

Ford's figure sits 4.9 points above Porsche's 61.3%, the best rate in either premium segment, and 16.0 points above the industrywide average — about two in three Ford truck owners returning, against roughly one in two nationwide. The remaining 33.8% of Ford truck owners defected, the smallest share lost by any segment winner. Ford is the only automaker in the list to finish ahead of Toyota.

Did premium brands lose their edge?

The data says yes. Porsche won premium car at 61.3%; Lexus took premium SUV at 59.2%, the weakest winning figure. Toyota's mass market car owners returned at a rate 3.5 points higher than Porsche's premium car owners. Honda's 63.0% SUV rate beats both luxury champions — 3.8 points above Lexus and 1.7 points above Porsche.

Even the softest published mass market figure, Honda's 57.5% in cars, sits closer to a premium champion than to the premium car runner-up. The five best results of the ten all come from mass market and truck classes. In this year's figures, the deepest owner commitment collects among everyday vehicles.