In a recent ‘Brand Perception Survey’ by Consumer Reports, consumers perceived Toyota and Honda as the best brands by a wide margin. Toyota and Honda had an overall ranking of 189 and 146 respectively while Ford came in third with 112 points followed by Chevy at 110. What surprised us about the survey was that Acura and Audi were considered the worst and were at the bottom of the list with brands like Mitsubishi, Mercury and Buick. I mean are things really that bad at Acura and why is Audi even down there with their recent onslaught of vehicles?

Well for one the survey says that car buyers considered safety and quality as the most important, followed by value, performance, environmental friendliness, design, and technical innovation.  

So the explanation of consumers concern with safety and quality explains why Audi is at the bottom of the barrel, but what about Acura? Has it really become that third-tier luxury brand that doesn’t turn heads anymore? Afterall, the main reason people go for a luxury car is to show everyone that they’ve got some green in their bank account. One can argue that unlike BMW, Mercedes or even Audi, Acura shares many of its components with Honda. For example the Acura MDX is based on the Honda Pilot while the TSX is based on the Accord. But what’s wrong with using parts from one of the most reliable brands in the world?

After all, you can get a fully loaded TL with more technology features, more power and more room for a lot cheaper than a Mercedes C-Class.

We still have hope for Acura and hope that the NSX will really drive more attention to the brand and give it some much needed respect. So stop slacking Acura engineers and get to work! For once we’d like to be excited to attend an Acura press conference at a major auto show.

Source: Reuters (via Automotive Blogs)

[tags]Cars, Car, Auto, Automobile, Vehicles, Technology, Auto News, News, Automotive, Acura[/tags]