NEW YORK (Kyodo) Sony led for the seventh consecutive year in the rankings of what the U.S. public considers to be the best 10 product brands, according to online survey results released Wednesday by Harris Interactive Inc.
Among other Japanese brands, Toyota placed fourth, up from sixth the previous year, and Honda sixth, one rank higher than a year ago.
Dell retained second place since last year and Coca-Cola moved up a notch to third.
Two major brands, General Motors and Microsoft, dropped out of the top 10 this year. GM failed to make its way into the list for the first time since 1995, when the Harris poll of best brands began.
The survey covered 2,351 adults in the United States between June 7 and 13. Respondents named brands they considered to be best, without pollsters suggesting any names.