When it comes to consumer perception, the top of the leaderboard for car brands has remained stable, but with the “perennial leaders” seeing significant swoons, other brands are closing the gap, according to Consumer Reports.

The publication released the results of its 2012 Car-Brand Perception Survey on Tuesday and revealed that Toyota was tops yet again, with Ford, Honda and Chevrolet rounding out the top four, respectively.

Despite the fact that the leaders have been able to maintain their lofty perches, their overall perception scores — for the most part — fell double digits, the publication emphasized.

Toyota’s score, for instance, dropped 17 points, while second-place Ford fell more than 20 points, as did No. 3 Honda and No. 6 BMW. Consumer Reports noted that Cadillac and Chevrolet fell single digits.

“Dramatic events in the automotive industry seem to be affecting how consumers view auto brands,” explained Jeff Bartlett, deputy editor for autos online at Consumer Reports.

“Erratic gasoline prices and a struggling economy have pushed consumers to prize low operating costs and good reliability," he added.

The complete top 10 is as follows:

Toyota: 131
Ford: 121
Honda: 94
Chevrolet: 92
Mercedes-Benz: 84
BMW: 69
Volvo: 67
Cadillac: 63
Lexus: 54
Tesla: 51

Meanwhile, the bottom 10 were:

Saab: 5
Fiat: 7
Mini: 7
Mitsubishi: 7
Land Rover: 8
Mercury: 10
Suzuki: 11
Jeep: 12
Infiniti: 16
Mazda: 16

Officials noted that scores are based on perceptions in seven categories, which are combined to generate the total score.

“While the scores reflect a brand’s image in consumers’ minds, they do not reflect the actual qualities of any brand’s vehicles, or results from Consumer Reports testing,” the publication stressed.

The seven qualities used in the survey are: safety, quality, value, performance, environmentally friendly/green, design/style and technology/innovation.

The leaders in each category were:

—Safety: Volvo (49)
—Quality: (tie) Toyota, Honda, Ford (19)
—Value: Ford (20)
—Performance: BMW (19)
—Environmentally Friendly/Green: Toyota (38)
—Design/Style: Cadillac (17)
—Technology/Innovation: Mercedes-Benz (21)

Further results can be found here.