Roy Morgan research reveals Toyota is Australia’s most trusted car brand with Holden absent

Australia’s most trusted car brands are all Japanese – with Holden nowhere within the top 10.

Toyota isn’t just the seller of the most popular vehicle for 2019 – the Hilux.

The Japanese car maker behind the popular Corolla, RAV4, Camry and LandCruiser  is also Australia’s most trusted brand.

Market research group Roy Morgan found Toyota had the highest net trust score in Australia.

Toyota, which has a market leading share of 19.3 per cent, was far from the only Japanese brand to top the list with Mazda, Honda, Subaru and Nissan among the elite five. Only one European luxury brand made the cut.

Korean giant Hyundai came in at number six, ahead of Elon Musk’s American electric vehicle brand Tesla and German luxury car maker Mercedes-Benz.

Kia, another Korean brand, came in at number nine while Ford rounded out the top 10 list.

For generations, Holden produced Australia’s most popular car, with the Commodore topping the sales charts uninterrupted from 1996 to 2010.

Roy Morgan chief executive Michele Levine said Holden’s decision to stop making the Commodore in Australia had cost it credibility. 

‘Without a local manufacturing base Holden has become just another importer and has fallen well behind other car brands over the last few years,’ she said.

‘The low net trust score for Holden highlights the risk facing the General Motors subsidiary over the next few years without solid local support.’

Her observations were made a day after Holden’s former design chief Leo Pruneau told Daily Mail Australia General Motors was likely to kill the Holden name in Australia within a decade and market their imported cars as Chevrolets. 

This would end a 72-year tradition of Holdens gracing Australian driveways. 

‘I would say 10 years we won’t see a Holden badge,’ Mr Pruneau said. 

‘It’s a really sad thing to say. There’s a good chance the Holden name could disappear altogether.’

The last Commodore made in Australia rolled off the production line, at Elizabeth in Adelaide’s north, in October 2017.

The Commodore name continued in 2018 and 2019, as a rebadged, front-wheel drive Opel Insignia made in Germany.

Holden last week announced the Commodore name would be axed in 2020 after more than 41 years.

‘The poor result for Holden comes as Australia’s most iconic car company announced that its most recognizable car, the Holden Commodore, will be phased out over the next year,’ Ms Levine said.