Top Brands: Toyota, Ford, Honda, Chevrolet

Does it mean in order that T, F, H, C, are the most popular according to CR readership? . . . or something else.
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I read the report from Consumer Reports linked to Yahoo.
It's an "overall brand perception" report, meaning they use a lot of different criteria (e.g., safety, quality, etc., etc.) and they are not looking a specific vehicles (e.g., Prius vs. Insight).
CR points out that this report has inherent distortions in it. Consumer perceptions linked to brand names do not always correspond to the reality of the products put in the marketplace.

I will give one example--not chosen by CR for explanation in what I saw.
Ford is No. 2 overall. Mercury, Ford's weaker brand name, is No. 3 from the bottom. Aren't their cars pretty much the same, with different labels put on them?
And even if Mercury is abandoned as a marque by Ford, won't they continue to make parts for used Mercurys because they're the same parts that go to Fords?

Given CR's traditional focus on quality, safety, performance and price of products, this was a pretty odd survey for them to be doing, IMHO.