Recognizing automakers’ achievements in creating and maintaining brand attributes that earn the attention and enthusiasm of new-car buyers, Kelley Blue Book, a Cox Automotive company, announced the 2023 Brand Image Award Winners, based on annual new-car buyer perception study data. Award categories are calculated among in-market luxury, nonluxury, truck and electric vehicle shoppers who plan to purchase within the next 12 months.  

“Kelley Blue Book’s Brand Image Awards celebrate the automakers capturing the most attention from new-car shoppers, which is quite a feat considering the increasingly crowded marketplace,” said Vanessa Ton, senior research and marketing intelligence manager at Cox Automotive. “As the automotive landscape continues to shift and evolve with more and more electric vehicles entering the scene from various automakers every year, the experts at Kelley Blue Book found it suitable for the times to introduce a new award category this year, Best Overall EV Brand. Consumer perception data among new-car shoppers revealed Tesla as the first winner of this brand-new award category for 2023.”  

Tesla nearly swept the luxury brand awards, winning Best Overall Luxury Brand for the fourth year running, with the highest average score across all ratings of luxury models to win the award. In addition, Tesla claimed the all-new 2023 Best Overall EV Brand award, which is calculated based on 12 factors of importance among all brands that have at least one EV in their model lineup. Tesla also took home specific awards or Best Value Luxury Brand and Most Refined Luxury Brand, claiming both honors for the fourth year in a row. To round out its five Brand Image Award wins, it won Best Performance Brand for 2023, besting last year’s winner Porsche. Tesla’s  wins are thanks to the brand’s superior technology innovations, unparalleled performance, and refined, striking designs. 

For the seventh time in the past 10 years, Honda won Best Overall Brand for 2023 among nonluxury automakers. Honda achieved the highest average score across all ratings of nonluxury models to win the Best Overall Brand. In addition, it took home the award once again for Best Value Brand, an award it has claimed for nine years straight. Honda’s wins are thanks to the brand’s reputation for excellence, including superior value for the money and solid MPG.  

Toyota won Best Overall Truck Brand for the fifth year in a row. It achieved the highest average score across all ratings of truck models and 12 weighted factors of importance. Toyota’s consecutive years of winning Best Overall Truck Brand are thanks to its truck models offering outstanding features and stylish designs without sacrificing quality, performance or safety. Toyota also took home Most Trusted Brand for 2023, an award Subaru won from 2015 to 2022, demonstrating the brand’s focus and commitment to delivering vehicles that consumers trust. 

Beyond the top overall brands, other automakers gained noteworthy Brand Image Award wins. Dodge won Best Performance Brand for 2023, an award Subaru took the previous three years. Dodge also won Most Refined Brand among nonluxury shoppers, bringing home the trophy over last year’s winner Honda. Ford won its first Brand Image Award win since 2018 by taking home this year’s Best Car Styling Brand award among nonluxury shoppers, thanks to the striking design of the Mustang. This is the first time in 10 years Ford has won the coveted Best Car Styling Brand award, one Dodge previously won the previous four years. In addition, Porsche won this year’s Best Car Styling Luxury Brand, an honor it also won in 2021 and 2022. To round out the winners, Lexus once again won Most Trusted Luxury Brand, an award it notably has dominated for eight years straight and one it has captured 10 times in the last 11 years. 

The awards are based on consumer automotive perception data from Kelley Blue Book’s Brand Watch study. KBB's Brand Watch is an online brand and model perception tracking study, which taps into more than 12,000 in-market new-vehicle shoppers annually on KBB.com. The study offers insight into how shoppers perceive important factors driving their purchase decisions and captures brand/model familiarity and consideration among new-car shoppers.