Experts named automakers with the best reputation in 2026

Toyota has been the car manufacturer with the best reputation for the second year in a row. She was recognized as the winner of the second annual Reputation Leaders Award in the Automakers category. On February 19, Izvestia was informed about this by the Sidorin Lab agency, specializing in reputation management on the Internet. Kia took the second place, BMW the third.

In total, 30 car brands were evaluated in the rating. The selection of participants was based on car sales data for 2025 provided by the analytical agency Autostat. It is noteworthy that Chinese automakers did not enter the top three this year. The best result among them was shown by Chery, which took seventh place — last year the brand was in the second position of the rating.

When assessing reputation, the popularity of brands in social media and mass media, the tone of search results in Yandex and Google, the number and quality of reviews on recommendation sites, as well as the activity of official accounts of companies in social networks were taken into account. For an objective comparison of brands of different scales, a data normalization system was used, allowing all indicators to be brought to a single assessment scale, experts noted.

Expensive for the rich: Buyers of premium cars face another levy

Deputies have prepared a bill on the luxury tax

Earlier, on February 6, Toyota announced the change of CEO. Starting in April, Koji Sato, who has been in charge of the company for three years, will be replaced by current Chief Financial Officer Kentu Kona. The change of leadership was unexpected. Toyota announced it at the same time as it released its results for the third quarter, in which the company raised its full-year profit forecast by almost 12%.

All important news is on the Izvestia channel in the MAX messenger.