SCHAUMBURG, Ill. — Toyota Motor Sales ranked highest in corporate loyalty in the second quarter, according to Experian Automotive’s Loyalty and Market Trend analysis. Toyota saw its corporate loyalty increase from 41.6 percent a year ago to 47.3 percent, enabling it to pass both General Motors and Ford Motor Co. This increase marks the first time Toyota has achieved the top spot in corporate loyalty since the third quarter 2009.

“Toyota has done an outstanding job of regaining customer trust and getting repeat customers into showrooms,” said Jeffrey Anderson, director of consulting and analytics for Experian Automotive. “To restore normal operations and regain customer trust in such a short time following the earthquake and tsunami is a truly remarkable comeback.”

Experian Automotive defines corporate loyalty as measuring whether a new-vehicle purchase matches a prior vehicle owned at the corporate level. This includes all brands under the corporate umbrella. Rounding out the Top 5 in corporate loyalty are General Motors (46.2 percent), Ford Motor Co. (46.0 percent), Hyundai Motor Group (45.3 percent) and Honda Motor Company (43.1 percent).

In regards to brand loyalty, the Chevrolet Sonic was the top model, which means that 60.1 percent of Sonic owners who returned to the market bought another Chevrolet vehicle. Ford rounded out the Top 5 in brand loyalty by model, with the Ford Fusion (59.9 percent), Flex (55.0 percent), Edge (54.0 percent) and 500 (52.0 percent) owners being the most loyal to the brand.

The following are other highlights from the ranking:

· Total vehicle purchases were up by more than 370,000 units, rising from 3.2 million registrations in the second quarter 2011 to 3.6 million in the second quarter 2012. This metric has been steadily increasing since the economic downturn, when vehicle purchases dropped to 2.5 million in the second quarter 2009.

· Toyota posted the largest unit sales gain with 145,000 additional registrations, followed by Chrysler with more than 83,000 new registrations.

· Toyota had the biggest market share gain in the second quarter with 2.8 percent.

· General Motors had the steepest second quarter decline in market share, falling by 1.5 percent.

· The average age of vehicles on the road has increased from 10.6 years in the second quarter 2011to 10.8 years in the second quarter 2012.