American car consumers have voted and they say that Ford Motor Co. has matched Toyota Motor Corp. as the most favorably viewed auto brand in North America. In the last couple of years, Ford has gone up 35 percentage points, while Toyota has fallen 46 points, leaving the automakers “in a statistical dead heat.” Toyota suffered from the recalls worldwide during the past two years.
On the other hand, Ford, the only major U.S. automaker to avoid bankruptcy, improved its reputation for safety, quality and value.