Kelley Blue Book’s long-running shopper-perception study, Brand Watch, is now a twice-annual recap of brand and model consideration across luxury, nonluxury and electrified segments. It tracks 14 factors for car shoppers based on roughly 12,000 in-market new-car shoppers on KBB.com. 

The 2025 study found Toyota to be the most-considered nonluxury brand despite a year-over-year decline. Nissan dropped in consideration, now outranked by Subaru, which has a strong brand reputation.

Ford led the Top 10 model consideration with its F-150 pickup, gaining 3% year-over-year in consideration. The Honda Civic and GMC Sierra 1500 fell out of the Top 10, and the Chevy Tahoe and Ford Explorer moved up to the ninth and 10^th spots, respectively. 

Among luxury vehicles, Lexus held the top brand spot, and the Cadillac Escalade earned the top model ranking. Genesis moved up to pass Tesla on the brand level. Consumer interest in luxury SUVs led to the once-staple BMW 3 Series of executive cars falling out of the top 10 model ranking, and the Acura RDX climbed into the tenth spot. 

Electrified vehicles rose in consideration for the year despite the loss of the federal tax incentive. Toyota ranked No. 1 for brands, and Tesla dropped to number four. Toyota led the segment with six models in the Top 10 ranking, the RAV4 Hybrid placing first. The Hyundai Tucson Hybrid and Toyota Grand Highlander Hybrid joined the Top 10 ranks.