Explore Vincentric Best Value in America luxury-brand winners from 2005 through the latest 2025 results and see why Lexus leads with nine brand-level awards.

The purchase price of a luxury vehicle tells only part of the financial story.

After a vehicle leaves the dealership, owners continue paying for depreciation, financing, insurance, fuel, maintenance, repairs, taxes, and other expenses. Two luxury vehicles with similar window stickers can therefore have dramatically different long-term ownership costs.

Since 2005, Vincentric’s Best Value in America Awards have used cost-of-ownership data and statistical analysis to identify vehicles that deliver stronger value than expected for their price and market segment.

A review of Vincentric’s available U.S. consumer award history shows that Lexus has earned more luxury brand-level Best Value awards than any other manufacturer, receiving nine such honors between the introduction of brand awards in 2011 and the latest published results for 2025.

What Is Vincentric?

Vincentric is an automotive data-research organization that studies the costs associated with purchasing and operating vehicles.

Vincentric has produced its Best Value in America awards since 2005. Its data is used by vehicle manufacturers and other automotive-industry organizations to analyze vehicle value and ownership expenses.

The Best Value in America awards are different from reliability, safety, or resale-value rankings:

• J.D. Power’s Vehicle Dependability Study measures owner-reported problems.
• Consumer Reports estimates predicted reliability.
• Kelley Blue Book’s Best Resale Value Awards focus on projected retained value.
• Vincentric evaluates the broader financial relationship between a vehicle’s price and its ownership costs.

Together, these studies can give shoppers a more complete picture of long-term vehicle ownership.

What Costs Does Vincentric Evaluate?

Vincentric measures eight major ownership-cost categories:

1. Depreciation
2. Fees and taxes
3. Financing
4. Fuel
5. Insurance
6. Maintenance
7. Opportunity cost
8. Repairs

For its current Best Value analysis, Vincentric calculates the measured ownership cost of approximately 2,000 vehicle configurations. Vehicles are placed into segments according to factors such as type, size, and market position. Vincentric then determines the expected ownership cost for vehicles at different prices within each segment.

The vehicle performing the greatest percentage below its statistically expected ownership cost is named the Best Value winner in its segment.

What Is Opportunity Cost?

Opportunity cost represents the potential financial return given up when money is used to purchase and operate a vehicle instead of being saved or invested elsewhere.

For example, a large down payment may reduce the amount financed, but that money is no longer available to earn interest or investment returns.

Most shoppers do not consciously calculate opportunity cost when comparing vehicles, but Vincentric includes it to provide a broader financial analysis.

Best Value vs. Lowest Cost to Own: What Is the Difference?

These are related but different Vincentric recognitions.

Best Value in America

Best Value measures how far a vehicle’s ownership cost falls below the amount statistically expected for a vehicle of its price and segment.

A more expensive vehicle can win Best Value even when it does not have the lowest absolute ownership cost. It wins because it performs better than expected relative to its price and competitors.

Lowest Cost to Own

Lowest Cost to Own identifies the vehicle or brand with the lowest calculated ownership cost in its category.

In 2025, Lexus earned both:

• Lowest Cost to Own Luxury Car Brand
• Lowest Cost to Own Luxury SUV Brand

The Lexus RC and ES Hybrid helped lead the luxury-car result, while the Lexus UX and RX Hybrid helped lead the luxury-SUV result.

Because separate brand-level Lowest Cost to Own results are not consistently available across the entire 2005–2025 period, the historical rankings in this article use the more established Best Value in America brand awards.

Why Does the Historical Brand Ranking Begin in 2011?

Vincentric began its Best Value in America program in 2005, but the first several years recognized individual vehicles within market segments rather than naming one overall luxury-brand winner.

Examples from the early years include:

• 2005: Mercedes-Benz E320 CDI won the Luxury car segment, while the Lexus GX 470 won the higher-priced Large SUV segment.
• 2006: Lexus LS 430 won the Luxury segment, and the Lexus GX 470 again led its higher-priced Large SUV category.
• 2007: Lexus GS 450h won the Luxury segment, while the Lexus LS 460L led Prestige Luxury.
• 2008–2010: Vincentric continued recognizing individual premium and luxury models but did not publish a comparable overall luxury-brand award.

Vincentric introduced a clear Luxury Brand award in 2011.

From 2011 through 2015, there was one combined Luxury Brand award. Beginning in 2016, Vincentric separated the result into:

• Luxury Car Brand
• Luxury SUV or Crossover Brand

The chart therefore counts each officially named brand-level luxury award. Beginning in 2016, two luxury brands could earn a brand award in the same year.

Which Luxury Brands Won Most Often?

The following ranking covers all comparable Vincentric Best Value brand-level luxury awards from 2011 through 2025.

Standing	Luxury brand	Brand-level awards	Winning years and categories
1	Lexus	9	2013 Luxury Brand; 2015 Luxury Brand; 2016, 2017, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2024 and 2025 Luxury Car Brand
2	Volvo	6	2011 and 2012 Luxury Brand; 2016, 2018 and 2021 Luxury SUV Brand; 2023 Luxury Car Brand
T-3	Acura	2	2017 and 2020 Luxury SUV Brand
T-3	Audi	2	2014 Luxury Brand; 2019 Luxury Car Brand
T-3	Tesla	2	2023 and 2024 Luxury SUV Brand
T-6	BMW	1	2018 Luxury Car Brand
T-6	Cadillac	1	2025 Luxury SUV Brand
T-6	Land Rover	1	2019 Luxury SUV Brand
T-6	Lincoln	1	2022 Luxury SUV Brand
T-10	Genesis	0	—
T-10	Infiniti	0	—
T-10	Mercedes-Benz	0	—
T-10	Porsche	0	—

A zero does not mean that the brand never produced an award-winning vehicle. It means only that it did not earn one of the overall luxury brand-level Best Value awards during the comparable period.

Infiniti, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Genesis, and other manufacturers have earned numerous individual vehicle-segment honors even though they did not lead the combined luxury-brand result.

Vincentric Luxury Brand Winners by Year

Award year	Luxury-brand winner or winners
2005	No brand award—individual models only
2006	No brand award—individual models only
2007	No brand award—individual models only
2008	No brand award—individual models only
2009	No brand award—individual models only
2010	No brand award—individual models only
2011	Volvo
2012	Volvo
2013	Lexus
2014	Audi
2015	Lexus
2016	Lexus—Luxury Car; Volvo—Luxury SUV
2017	Lexus—Luxury Car; Acura—Luxury SUV
2018	BMW—Luxury Car; Volvo—Luxury SUV
2019	Audi—Luxury Car; Land Rover—Luxury SUV
2020	Lexus—Luxury Car; Acura—Luxury SUV
2021	Lexus—Luxury Car; Volvo—Luxury SUV
2022	Lexus—Luxury Car; Lincoln—Luxury SUV
2023	Volvo—Luxury Car; Tesla—Luxury SUV
2024	Lexus—Luxury Car; Tesla—Luxury SUV
2025	Lexus—Luxury Car; Cadillac—Luxury SUV
2026	No U.S. consumer award results publicly posted as of May 1, 2026

Vincentric’s archived annual winners identify Volvo as the combined Luxury Brand winner in 2011 and 2012, Lexus in 2013, Audi in 2014, and Lexus again in 2015.

The two-category results from 2016 through 2020 were Lexus and Volvo in 2016, Lexus and Acura in 2017, BMW and Volvo in 2018, Audi and Land Rover in 2019, and Lexus and Acura in 2020.

From 2021 through 2025, the Luxury Car winners were Lexus, Lexus, Volvo, Lexus, and Lexus. The Luxury SUV winners were Volvo, Lincoln, Tesla, Tesla, and Cadillac.

Lexus Leads With Nine Brand-Level Awards

Lexus earned nine comparable brand-level Vincentric Best Value awards:

• 2013 Luxury Brand
• 2015 Luxury Brand
• 2016 Luxury Car Brand
• 2017 Luxury Car Brand
• 2020 Luxury Car Brand
• 2021 Luxury Car Brand
• 2022 Luxury Car Brand
• 2024 Luxury Car Brand
• 2025 Luxury Car Brand

That means Lexus earned at least one luxury brand-level award in nine of the 15 years from 2011 through 2025.

Lexus also won seven of the ten separate Luxury Car Brand awards issued from 2016 through 2025.

Vincentric’s 2025 press release describes the result as Lexus’s ninth Best Value Luxury Car or predecessor Luxury Brand victory. Its separate 2025 winners page calls it the eighth overall win, creating a discrepancy within Vincentric’s own materials. The year-by-year archive and official press release support a total of nine.

Which Lexus Models Helped Earn the 2025 Award?

The 2025 Best Value Luxury Car Brand award was supported by two Lexus model-level winners:

Lexus RC

The Lexus RC earned the Best Value award in the Luxury Coupe category. Vincentric reported that the RC had:

• Ownership costs 1.8% below the expected amount for its price and segment
• The lowest depreciation cost in its class
• The lowest repair cost in its class
• The lowest total ownership cost in its class

Lexus ES Hybrid

The Lexus ES Hybrid earned the Luxury Midsize Sedan award. Vincentric reported that it had:

• Ownership costs 11.7% below expectations
• The lowest total cost of ownership in its class
• Better value performance than 17 competing models

These model-level wins helped Lexus earn its 2025 Luxury Car Brand recognition.

Lexus Also Swept the 2025 Lowest Cost to Own Luxury Awards

The Best Value brand result was not Lexus’s only major Vincentric achievement in 2025.

Lexus also earned:

• Lowest Cost to Own Luxury Car Brand
• Lowest Cost to Own Luxury SUV Brand

The luxury-car award was supported by the Lexus RC and ES Hybrid. The luxury-SUV award was supported by the Lexus UX and RX Hybrid.

This distinction is meaningful:

• Best Value recognizes ownership costs that are lower than expected relative to vehicle price.
• Lowest Cost to Own recognizes the lowest calculated costs within the category.

Lexus performed strongly under both measurements.

How Did Volvo Perform?

Volvo ranks second in the historical brand-level count with six awards.

It won the combined Luxury Brand title in 2011 and 2012. After Vincentric separated cars and SUVs, Volvo earned the Luxury SUV Brand award in 2016, 2018, and 2021. It later earned the Luxury Car Brand award in 2023.

Volvo’s record demonstrates strength across both luxury cars and SUVs rather than one vehicle type alone.

How Did Acura, Audi, BMW, Tesla, and Other Brands Perform?

Acura earned two Luxury SUV Brand awards, in 2017 and 2020.

Audi earned the combined Luxury Brand award in 2014 and the Luxury Car Brand award in 2019.

Tesla earned the Luxury SUV Brand title in 2023 and 2024, supported by the Model Y.

BMW earned the Luxury Car Brand award in 2018.

Land Rover earned the Luxury SUV Brand award in 2019, Lincoln earned it in 2022, and Cadillac earned it in 2025.

Does a Zero Mean Poor Ownership Value?

No.

Genesis, Infiniti, Mercedes-Benz, and Porsche did not earn an overall luxury brand-level Best Value title during the comparable period, but each has produced individual model winners.

A brand-level award depends on the performance of multiple eligible vehicles. A manufacturer may have one exceptionally strong model without earning enough model-level wins to lead the entire brand category.

The chart should therefore be interpreted narrowly:

It ranks manufacturers by their number of Vincentric luxury brand-level Best Value awards—not by overall quality, reliability, safety, performance, or desirability.

Is the Lowest-Priced Vehicle Always the Best Value?

No.

A lower purchase price does not automatically mean better value or lower ownership cost.

A less expensive vehicle could experience:

• Faster depreciation
• Higher insurance expenses
• Greater fuel consumption
• More maintenance
• Higher repair costs
• Less favorable financing
• Weaker resale demand

Vincentric’s statistical model accounts for the fact that vehicles have different prices. It identifies the vehicle performing furthest below the ownership cost expected at its price and market position.

Why Depreciation Matters

Depreciation is often one of the largest expenses associated with luxury-vehicle ownership.

Consider two vehicles that each cost $60,000:

• Vehicle A is worth $36,000 after several years.
• Vehicle B is worth $28,000 after the same period.

Vehicle A lost $24,000 in value. Vehicle B lost $32,000.

Even when Vehicle B uses slightly less fuel or has less-expensive maintenance, its additional $8,000 of depreciation could make it substantially more expensive overall.

This is why Vincentric ownership-cost analysis and Kelley Blue Book resale-value research work well together.

Can Hybrid Vehicles Reduce Ownership Costs?

They can, depending on the model, purchase price, mileage, fuel costs, insurance, depreciation, and length of ownership.

Potential hybrid advantages include:

• Lower fuel consumption
• Regenerative braking
• Reduced conventional brake use
• Less engine operation during certain driving conditions
• No requirement to plug in a conventional hybrid

However, shoppers should compare the exact gasoline and hybrid versions rather than assuming every hybrid will automatically cost less.

The Lexus ES Hybrid and RX Hybrid both helped Lexus earn 2025 Vincentric ownership-value honors.

Why Lexus of Concord Is a Premier Lexus Dealer in the San Francisco Bay Area

Choosing a vehicle with competitive ownership costs is only one part of a successful luxury-vehicle purchase.

The dealership can also help customers compare powertrains, trims, financing structures, trade-in values, maintenance requirements, and long-term ownership plans.

Lexus of Concord is a family-owned dealership that has served Concord and surrounding Bay Area communities since 1991. The dealership offers new Lexus vehicles, pre-owned inventory, L/Certified models, financing assistance, parts, and professional Lexus service.

Lexus Product Expertise

The Lexus lineup includes gasoline, hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and battery-electric models.

Lexus of Concord’s team can help customers compare:

• Initial purchase price
• Estimated fuel use
• Vehicle size
• Trim levels
• Safety and technology features
• Financing versus leasing
• New versus L/Certified ownership
• Expected annual mileage
• Anticipated ownership period
• Trade-in considerations

New, L/Certified, and Pre-Owned Choices

A new Lexus may offer the latest technology and complete new-vehicle warranty coverage.

An L/Certified Lexus may provide a lower initial cost combined with inspection requirements and factory-backed program benefits.

A traditional pre-owned vehicle may offer additional affordability but should be evaluated for condition, mileage, maintenance history, and remaining warranty coverage.

Having all three options available allows Lexus of Concord customers to compare more than the window sticker alone.

Financing and Trade-In Support

Financing costs are one of Vincentric’s eight ownership-cost categories.

Interest rate, loan length, down payment, trade equity, and incentives can all affect the total financial result.

Lexus of Concord offers financing resources and trade-in assistance to help customers evaluate the broader transaction rather than focusing only on a monthly payment.

Professional Lexus Service

Maintenance and repairs also contribute to ownership costs.

Lexus of Concord supports owners with Lexus-trained technicians, genuine Lexus parts, routine maintenance, diagnostics, and repair services.

Consistent maintenance may help protect vehicle condition, reliability, warranty compliance, and future trade-in desirability.

More Than Three Decades in the Bay Area

Lexus of Concord has served the area as a family-owned and operated dealership since 1991. Its Lexus expertise, vehicle selection, ownership support, and long-standing local presence help make it a premier Lexus destination for drivers throughout Contra Costa County and the greater San Francisco Bay Area.

Frequently Asked Questions About Vincentric Awards

When did Vincentric begin its Best Value in America awards?

Vincentric began producing its Best Value in America awards in 2005.

Why does the luxury-brand ranking begin in 2011?

From 2005 through 2010, Vincentric recognized individual vehicles and segments but did not publish a comparable overall Luxury Brand winner.

The first clear Luxury Brand award appears in the 2011 results.

Why are there two luxury winners after 2015?

Beginning in 2016, Vincentric separated the combined Luxury Brand award into Luxury Car Brand and Luxury SUV or Crossover Brand awards.

Which luxury brand has the most Vincentric brand awards?

Lexus leads the comparable historical count with nine brand-level awards through the latest published 2025 results.

Which years did Lexus win?

Lexus won in 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2024, and 2025.

Which brand ranks second?

Volvo ranks second with six brand-level awards.

Did Mercedes-Benz ever win a Vincentric award?

Yes. Mercedes-Benz models have earned individual vehicle-segment awards, including the E320 CDI in the 2005 Luxury segment.

However, Mercedes-Benz did not earn the overall luxury brand-level Best Value award during the comparable 2011–2025 period.

Did Infiniti earn any awards?

Yes. Infiniti vehicles have won individual segments in several years, including early Near Luxury and premium SUV categories.

Infiniti did not earn the overall luxury brand-level award during the comparable period.

Did Tesla win?

Tesla earned the Luxury SUV Brand award in 2023 and 2024, supported by the Model Y.

Is Best Value the same as lowest purchase price?

No. Best Value measures ownership costs relative to a vehicle’s purchase price and segment.

Is Best Value the same as Lowest Cost to Own?

No. Best Value measures performance against expected ownership cost. Lowest Cost to Own identifies the lowest calculated ownership cost in the category.

Which brand had the lowest luxury ownership costs in 2025?

Lexus earned both the Lowest Cost to Own Luxury Car Brand and Lowest Cost to Own Luxury SUV Brand awards in 2025.

What expenses does Vincentric calculate?

Vincentric evaluates depreciation, fees and taxes, financing, fuel, insurance, maintenance, opportunity cost, and repairs.

Does the award guarantee my actual ownership costs?

No. The award is based on modeled assumptions and calculated scenarios.

Actual expenses depend on purchase price, interest rate, mileage, fuel prices, insurance, location, driving history, vehicle condition, maintenance, repairs, and future market value.

Does a brand award mean every model is the best value?

No. Brand results are supported by the eligible models included in the annual analysis. Shoppers should still research the exact model, powertrain, trim, and model year.

Are Vincentric awards the same as reliability awards?

No. Reliability can influence maintenance and repair costs, but Vincentric also includes depreciation, financing, insurance, fuel, taxes, and opportunity cost.

Is Lexus inexpensive to own?

“Inexpensive” is relative in the luxury market. However, Lexus’s nine historical Best Value brand awards and its 2025 sweep of both Lowest Cost to Own luxury brand categories provide evidence of competitive ownership value.

Where can I compare Lexus ownership options in the Bay Area?

Lexus of Concord is located at 2001 Market Street in Concord, California, and offers new Lexus vehicles, L/Certified models, pre-owned inventory, financing support, genuine Lexus parts, and professional service.

Experience Long-Term Lexus Value at Lexus of Concord

Since Vincentric began its Best Value in America awards in 2005, the program has evolved from individual vehicle-segment awards into a broader recognition of both models and brands.

Among the comparable brand-level results from 2011 through 2025, Lexus leads with nine luxury brand awards—more than any other manufacturer.

Lexus also earned both of Vincentric’s 2025 Lowest Cost to Own luxury brand honors, demonstrating strength in both value relative to price and calculated ownership costs.

At Lexus of Concord, Bay Area drivers can compare Lexus sedans, SUVs, hybrids, plug-in hybrids, electric vehicles, L/Certified models, financing options, and trade-in opportunities with assistance from a team focused on the complete ownership experience.

Visit Lexus of Concord to explore a luxury vehicle that fits your lifestyle today while also considering the expenses and value that continue throughout ownership.

Research note: Vincentric began its Best Value in America awards in 2005. Comparable luxury brand-level awards began in 2011. The program separated Luxury Car and Luxury SUV brand awards beginning in 2016. As of August 2, 2026, Vincentric’s public U.S. consumer archive lists 2025 as the latest award year.

Publication note: Vincentric’s Terms of Use prohibit reproducing, posting, distributing, or disclosing its site content without prior written consent. Lexus of Concord should obtain approval before publishing Vincentric logos, award graphics, proprietary tables, detailed data, or promotional award claims.