Driving the news: Brand loyalty in the auto industry rose to 53.3% in the first half of 2025, but Tesla tumbled from first place to seventh as its loyalty rate dropped from 60.9% to 54.2%, according to LexisNexis Risk Solutions.
For context: Overall loyalty increased 1.2 percentage points from late 2024 and is approaching pre-COVID levels of 54.3% from 2019.
Toyota now leads with 65.4% loyalty, driven by RAV4 owners who showed 69.4% loyalty.
Tesla's decline came partly from EV owners switching brands. Historically, 88% stayed with Tesla, but that dropped to 75% in 2025.
Why it matters: Brand loyalty is crucial for automakers' long-term profitability since it's much cheaper to keep existing customers than acquire new ones.
What we're watching: Whether Tesla can reverse its loyalty slide and how other automakers capitalize on the opening.
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