Kelley Blue Book Announces 2026 Consumer Choice Award Winners

Honda Completely Sweeps Non-Luxury Brand Awards for First Time, Lexus Headlines Among Luxury Brands

ATLANTA, April 8, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Understanding the specifics of consumer perception is vital for automakers, especially considering they are vying for one of the largest purchases the average consumer will ever make – a new vehicle. The adage "perception is reality" is largely proven in this case by the fact that car buyers' perceptions undeniably influence realities like vehicle purchase decisions, brand loyalty and overall automaker success. Recognizing automakers' outstanding achievements in creating and maintaining brand pillars that earn the attention and enthusiasm of new-car shoppers, Kelley Blue Book, a Cox Automotive brand, today announces the winners of the 2026 Consumer Choice Awards.

"Honda is an absolute standout this year in Kelley Blue Book's Consumer Choice Awards, sweeping all of the non-luxury brand wins along with the top EV/hybrid brand honors," said Vanessa Ton, senior research and market intelligence manager at Cox Automotive. "This data-driven award sweep demonstrates new-car shoppers' high opinions of Honda on everything from trust and value to styling, performance and more. Meanwhile, Lexus dominates among luxury marques, snagging the overall luxury brand award and two additional luxury wins for trust and value. These Japanese automakers' first-class engineering, innovation and quality are leading the way. For truck shoppers, Ram claims the top spot."

Kelley Blue Book's Consumer Choice Awards are based on annual new-car shopper perception study data. Award categories are calculated among in-market luxury and non-luxury new-vehicle shoppers who plan to purchase within the next 12 months, including truck and electric vehicle/hybrid shoppers.

2026 Kelley Blue Book Consumer Choice Winners: Non-Luxury Brands

2026 Kelley Blue Book Consumer Choice Winner: Truck Brand

2026 Kelley Blue Book Consumer Choice Winner: EV/Hybrid Brand

2026 Kelley Blue Book Consumer Choice Winners: Luxury Brands

The 2026 Kelley Blue Book Consumer Choice Awards are based on consumer automotive perception data from Kelley Blue Book's Brand Watch study. Kelley Blue Book's Brand Watch is an online brand and model perception tracking study, which taps into more than 12,000 in-market new-vehicle shoppers annually on KBB.com. The highly comprehensive study offers insight into how shoppers perceive crucial factors driving their purchase decisions and captures brand/model familiarity and purchase consideration among new-car shoppers.

For more information about the 2026 Kelley Blue Book Consumer Choice Awards, visit https://www.kbb.com/awards/consumer-choice-awards/. 

About Kelley Blue Book 
Founded in 1926, Kelley Blue Book, The Trusted Resource^®, is the vehicle valuation and information source trusted and relied upon by both consumers and the automotive industry for nearly a century. As the industry standard for generations, Kelley Blue Book provides transparent, objective information and data-driven, innovative tools for consumers, automotive dealers and manufacturers. Kelley Blue Book publishes millions of market-reflective values weekly on its top-rated website KBB.com, from its famous Blue Book^® Trade-In Values to the Kelley Blue Book^® Price Advisor tool, which offers a range for what consumers reasonably can expect to pay for a vehicle in their area. KBB.com editors rate and review hundreds of new vehicles each year to help consumers understand the Best Cars and Best SUVs to meet their needs. Kelley Blue Book^SM Instant Cash Offer provides a redeemable trade-in offer to transaction-ready consumers and conveniently connects them to local participating dealers. Kelley Blue Book's Service Advisor provides guidance on how much to pay for service and repairs, allowing consumers to schedule service with local dealers on KBB.com. Kelley Blue Book also provides vehicle values to finance and insurance companies as well as governmental agencies. Kelley Blue Book is a Cox Automotive brand.

About Cox Automotive
Cox Automotive is the world's largest automotive services and technology provider. Cox Automotive powers industry-leading solutions for car shoppers, auto manufacturers, dealers, lenders and fleets through proprietary technology and insights derived from billions of annual online interactions. The company has 29,000+ employees on five continents and a portfolio of industry-leading brands that include Autotrader^®, Kelley Blue Book^®, Manheim^®, vAuto^®, Dealertrack^®, NextGear Capital™, CentralDispatch^® and Cox Fleet^®. Cox Automotive is a subsidiary of Cox Enterprises Inc., a privately owned, Atlanta-based company with $23 billion in annual revenue. Cox Automotive has been included on Glassdoor's Best Companies in Tech & AI 2026 and Best Place to Work in 2026 lists. Visit coxautoinc.com or connect via @CoxAutomotive on X, CoxAutoInc on Facebook or Cox-Automotive-Inc on LinkedIn.

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SOURCE Kelley Blue Book