Peter Lyon
January 19, 2025
Nissan is in hot water of late as it tries to find a way to save the company with Honda knocking on the door as a possible saviour. Late last year, Nissan revealed it was in strife and would have to let around 9,000 workers go globally—that’s 6% of its global workforce! — and that it needs to find a solution to its financial state over the next 12 months or risk bankruptcy. Honda put its hand up as a potential partner but we will need several more months to uncover just how far that cooperation goes.
However, on the flip side, the company appears to be doing quite well, if you look at the 2024-25 Automotive Reputation Report. Nissan is among the top non-luxury automotive brands in this report, securing third place with a Reputation Score of 705 behind Subaru in the top spot with 737 and Honda with 715. This marks the sixth consecutive year Nissan has ranked among the top five brands since the inaugural report in 2019. Following Nissan were Buick with 695 and Toyota with 693.
Ranking down the bottom of the list were Dodge and Ram with 602 apiece and Fiat with 595. Meanwhile, in the luxury brands, Nissan’s luxury marque Infiniti with 738 sat in second place behind Lexus with 759 while Audi was in third with 708 and Porsche in fourth with 707.
The annual Reputation report evaluates automotive brands and dealerships across North America using a proprietary Reputation Score, which measures sentiment, engagement and visibility on a 100 to 1,000 scale.
This year’s report analyzed feedback from 5.5 million car buyers, offering insights into the evolving sentiment of auto consumers, the influence of online reviews on car sales and the characteristics of top-performing dealerships. The report confirms that brands prioritizing reputation management experience increased customer satisfaction.
CARLIST THOUGHTS
To be honest, Nissan’s good standing is a result of the brand debuting successful models like the Versa, Kicks and Rogue. Honda at least will be glad to see that Nissan squeezed into the Top 3 rankings just behind them. It should help to give them confidence that their decision to partner with the struggling brand is a good one. And Infiniti’s No 2 spot on the luxury side is another good sign for Honda.
