TUSTIN, Calif. -

AutoPacific announced Thursday its 17th annual Vehicle Satisfaction Awards, with luxury brands dominating the list.

First up, the Top Premium Brand is Cadillac, and Buick notched the title of Top Popular Brand for satisfaction.

The vehicle (car or truck) registering the highest satisfaction rate is the Cadillac SRX luxury crossover SUV. Specifically for cars, the Lexus LS460 topped the list for satisfaction ratings.

The awards — which measure owner satisfaction with 51 vehicle attributes, including comfort and convenience — are based on the results of responses from over 52,000 new-vehicle owners.

"With the launch of each new car and truck, carmakers try improve the product and increase the satisfaction of their buyers.  By surveying a substantial number of owners who purchased a new 2013 model year vehicle, AutoPacific's VSA provides an objective measurement of how well the makers are doing. More than one-third of new vehicle buyers are positively influenced by objective awards based on owner ratings when deciding on a new car or truck," said George Peterson, president of AutoPacific.

Interestingly, the company explained that the awards this year are much more "diverse" than they have been in previous years. This time around, no single manufacturer dominated the results, the company pointed out.

A few brands did notch multiple wins, though.

For example, Toyota and General Motors had four best-in-class winners and Chrysler had three wins. Meanwhile, Kia, Hyundai, Nissan, and Ford had each two winners.

For most improved, Infiniti and Land Rover stole the show, rising 10 and nine positions, respectively, when compared to last year’s results.

On the other hand, Scion dropped 10 positions and Ford dropped eight.

"AutoPacific's Vehicle Satisfaction Awards help vehicle buyers sort through an increasingly complicated selection of brands and models.  For the 2013 model year, there are 294 models and 33 brands from which to choose a new vehicle.  The VSA clearly shows the buyers which vehicles are at the top of the class they are considering," says Peterson.

AutoPacific provided the following chart to detail the top 2013 model year performers: