Owners recently rated their 2007 model-year vehicles by how closely these units come to their ideal, according to AutoPacific, which released its Ideal Vehicle Awards this morning.
The company defined ideal as the vehicles owners are least likely to want changed. As suspected, automakers that understand their customers the best tend to create more ideal vehicles for their core buyers.
In its list, AutoPacific identified 25 segment winners, in addition to overall winners for premium and mainstream brands.
The top-rated brand overall was Lincoln, which out-scored Buick and Porsche for the most ideal premium brand, executives reported. Meanwhile, the top-rated mainstream brand was Mercury, which edged out Hyundai for that honor.
Moreover, the highest-ranked model was the Mercedes-Benz S-Class as a premium luxury car. The second- and third-rated vehicles came from Ford, including the Mercury Montego and the Ford Five Hundred in the large car category, the company said.
As for the top-rated truck, AutoPacific found it was the Nissan Titan in the light-duty pickup segment, followed by the Ford Edge, as a premium midsize crossover.
Across all segments, officials said Ford led the industry by grabbing a total of nine category awards. General Motors and Hyundai each walked away with four winners.
The company broke down the awards as follows:
2007 Ideal Premium Brand: Lincoln
2007 Ideal Mainstream Brand: Mercury
2007 Ideal Product Segment: Large Car
Top-rated vehicles:
Premium Luxury Car: Mercedes-Benz S-Class
Aspirational Luxury Car: Infiniti G35
Large Luxury Car: Mercury Grand Marquis
Large Car: Mercury Montego
Luxury Midsize Car: Lincoln MKZ
Premium Midsize Car: Hyundai Sonata
Midsize Car: Saturn Aura
Image Compact Car: Audi A3
Compact Car: Hyundai Elantra
Economy Car: Toyota Yaris
Premium Sports Car: Porsche Cayman
Sports Car: Porsche Boxster
Sporty Car: Ford Mustang/Volkswagen Eos (tie)
Large Light-Duty Pickup: Nissan Titan
Large Heavy-Duty Pickup: GMC Sierra 2500
Compact Pickup: GMC Canyon
Minivan: Hyundai Entourage
Luxury SUV: Range Rover
Large SUV: Ford Expedition/Chevrolet Suburban (tie)
Midsize SUV: Ford Explorer
Compact SUV/Off-Road Vehicle: Suzuki Grand Vitara
Luxury Crossover SUV: Lincoln MKX
Premium Midsize Crossover SUV: Ford Edge
Midsize Crossover SUV: Honda CR-V
Compact Crossover SUV: Hyundai Tucson