1:34 pm, July 3, 2024
New data from JudgeService research, which specialises in verified and authentic customer reviews in the automotive market, has found that BYD tops the charts as most widely recognised new entrant car brand among car buyers.
A recent JudgeService Car Brand Tracker polled the views of 1,244 car owners to measure their perceptions and awareness of new carmakers, noting both spontaneous awareness and prompted responses.
Overall, 13 per cent of respondents had heard of BYD, which was a significantly larger number than the 4 per cent that had heard of Polestar and NIO – despite the former having sold vehicles n the UK since 2020.
Not a single respondent in the survey named US electric off-road and SUV manufacturer Rivian, while Vietnamese brand Vin Fast and Chinese-owned WM Motor were also unrecognised.
Leapmotor, the Chinese carmaker which has a joint venture with Stellantis and will launch in the UK next year, also lacked any spontaneous recognition.
‘The results of our Car Brand Tracker show the amount of brand building work most of the new entrants have yet to do to get themselves onto car buying shopping lists, including those who have already opened sales channels in the UK,’ said Neil Addley, managing director of JudgeService.
‘Inevitably, many of these brands will sell on price but that still means they must build high levels of awareness and trust before buyers take a step into the unknown,’ he added.
More established EV brands fared better in the Prompted Response survey, with over half (53 percent) saying they had heard of Polestar, followed by 25 per cent recognising Genesis (25 per cent) and BYD coming in third place with 21 per cent of respondents.
However, GWM Ora (4 per cent) failed to make the Top 10, despite being on sale in the UK.
BYD has been on the offensive with high profile marketing campaigns, including the sponsorship of Euro 2024, an endeavour that saw clicks to BYD double on the Auto Trader website following the opening game.
