Electric-Car Maker Tesla Gains In Brand Awareness

If you’re reading this, you probably already know a little bit about Tesla.

Brainchild of entrepreneur Elon Musk, producer of electric vehicles, and upstart in the automotive market, Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] has been one of the highest-profile new brands of recent years.

That high profile has done more than put the company on the automotive landscape–it’s also made an impact in American homes. Tesla has now crept onto the top ten list for brand perception, as ranked by Consumer Reports.

The survey of more than two thousand Americans records their perception of automotive brands, in terms of quality, safety, performance, design and other factors.

Topping this year’s list is Toyota, followed by Ford, Honda, Chevrolet and Mercedes-Benz.

But ranked at number 10 is Tesla, whose score has risen since last year, no doubt thanks to the Model S sedan, which has already received several awards over the past 12 months.

Other brands in the top 10 include Volvo, Cadillac, BMW and another new top-10 entrant, Dodge–so Tesla is in good company.

At the other end of the scale, Toyota’s youthful brand Scion ranks lowest, with small-car makers Fiat and MINI also scoring poorly–as do luxury brands and potential Tesla rivals Land Rover, Jaguar and Porsche.

Each category used to determine the position of each brand is ranked by importance by those surveyed. Quality, safety and value are all most important.
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