NEW YORK -

As the automotive industry is on the rebound after years of struggle following the 2008 recession, which two brands have made the best comebacks?

According to the results of the 2012 Harris Poll EquiTrend study, both Mercedes-Benz and Honda “reign supreme in successfully harnessing their equity and leading their industries as Brands of the Year.”

And this isn’t the first time Mercedes-Benz has been in this position.

The brand held the title of Lead Luxury Auto Brand last year, as well, in the study — a yearly brand health assessment from market research firm Harris Interactive.

"Mercedes-Benz and Lexus have been battling over this top ranking for the last eight years," says Mike Chadsey, senior consultant for Harris Interactive’s Customer Relationship Consulting team.

"Mercedes has ranked at the top for two years in a row and four of the last eight years, while Lexus has made it to the top spot three times. BMW is also usually within the top three, with especially strong scores over the last three years. Quality and purchase consideration both play important roles in these annual rankings,” he continued.

And highlighting other luxury brands that fared well in the study, officials noted that Cadillac, Acura, Infiniti and Audi also rank above the category’s average equity score.

As for Honda, the OEM notched the title of 2012 Full Line Automotive Brand of the Year, replacing last year’s top-ranked automaker, Ford.

And another Japanese brand climbed into second place in the study’s rankings.

“Having overcome some quality concerns and recalls in 2011, Toyota has come back strong,” officials noted, rising from its fourth-place position in 2011 to second place this year.

“Toyota’s increase in brand equity is the largest of the brands measured in the category,” the company added.

And officials explained that although its equity score has actually increased, Ford has slipped to third place in the 2012 rankings — “a further testament to the highly competitive nature of the automotive market.”

Furthermore, Chevrolet, Nissan, Subaru, Hyundai and Volkswagen also rank above average in the full line automotive category.

Additional Industry Accolades

And on top of measuring the brand equity of OEMs, the study also covers a variety of other categories within the industry, including third-party online marketplaces — which is a new ranking category this year, officials noted. 

Named the 2012 Online Auto Shopping Brand of the Year is Kelley Blue Book’s KBB.com.

The company was followed by Edmunds.com in second place.

Further explaining the reasoning behind KBB.com’s award, officials explained,  “KBB.com is the more familiar brand, due largely to its long heritage and strong association as the industry benchmark for used car values.

“Additionally, KBB.com enjoys high Quality scores, compared to other brands surveyed, they added. As for other top ranked brands in the automotive industry, Bose topped the new Car Audio Category, Michelin notched the title of America’s favorite tire brand, and Yamaha pushed ahead of Harley-Davidson to land Motorcycle Brand of the Year.

For the full study rankings  that cover everything from airlines to financial services, see here.