Kelly Blue Book (kbb.com) has announced that customers of Hyundai are now more loyal to the brand than either Honda or Toyota. Hyundai has seen a spike of as much as 10.4 percentage points when comparing February 2010 data to Q4 2009. Hyundai’s previous best performance in recent times was when it placed third in Q4 of 2009. KBB also reports that the all-new Hyundai Sonata is one of the Top 10 Most Researched New Vehicles online.

Meanwhile, the unintended acceleration issue that has been plaguing Toyota recently, has gone on to affect the brand loyalty that customers feel towards Toyota. The previous holder of the prestigious distinction has now fallen two spots to third place, while Honda holds steady at second place. The number of Toyota owners who are on the lookout to purchase a new model within the brand saw a dip of 4.4 percentage points to 53.3 percent, while Honda increased moderately by 0.7 percent to 55.8 percent.

KBB also reports that the new Hyundai Sonata recently entered the list of top 10 most researched new vehicles at number 5. The only cars that outperformed the Sonata here are the usual strongholds - Honda Accord, Honda Civic, Toyota Camry and Honda CR-V.

“Hyundai is clearly benefiting from ‘a perfect storm’ – a result of introducing passionate new products like the 2011 Sonata and 2010 Tucson, while Honda’s mainstream vehicles like the CR-V and Accord are a bit stale in the marketplace and Toyota is experiencing a huge consumer perception crisis,” said James Bell, executive market analyst for Kelley Blue Book.

Hyundai is expected to continue its good fortunes, provided they continue their attractive new-vehicle line-up, aggresive marketing and solid-warranty offers. Hyundai is expected to face strong competition coming in from domestic brands like Ford and GM as they compete to fill in the void that Toyota’s diminishing consumer confidence has created. Hyundai has also performed considerable better the the overall car segment average with Hyundai’s value increasing by as much as 2 percent month-over-month, compared to a relaively modest 0.3 percent for the entire car segment.