The Hindu Business Line : The trust quotient

Toyota was ranked the `Most Trusted Car Company' by consumers globally, according to a study conducted by TNS Automotive, one of the world's largest automotive research companies.

The study states that Toyota's strong global image is due to its high ratings on a number of parameters, including for manufacturing safe products, promoting road safety, and using innovation and technology to sustain the environment.

The `Most Trusted' rankings are based on a global corporate social responsibility study conducted by TNS to understand the public's perceptions of the automotive industry vis-à-vis corporate ethics, social responsibility, environmental policies, and philanthropic activities. For the study, over 18,000 consumers are said to have participated from 18 countries, including India, and they were asked to rate corporations from the passenger car, commercial vehicle, tyre, and oil sectors.

According to the study's findings, safety and environment are the most important issues facing the automotive industry today and corporations that rate highly on these two parameters are generally perceived to be the most trustworthy.

The TNS study observes that in developing markets such as India's, consumers rate automotive companies highly for their contribution to the social and economic development of their countries, especially for generating new jobs and improving the quality of life.

In the case of Maruti Udyog and Hero Honda, in addition to creating jobs and improving the quality of life, both the companies are also seen as making safe products. Bharat Petroleum is rated highly on ethical behaviour and Tata Motors is appreciated for creating a sustainable future. MRF stands high on its contribution to bringing safe products to the automotive users, according to the study.

The TNS survey also reveals that consumers are prepared to vote with their wallet with eight out of ten indicating that they would refrain from purchasing a product from corporations that fail to follow environmentally friendly or ethical business practices.

The study's findings and rankings of Indian car, two-wheeler and tyre manufacturers are presented in the accompanying Tables.

S. Muralidhar

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