The Car Brand Index, by online research firm Spectrum, is an an online and social media analysis of 41 car brands, designed to assess brand visibility, chatter and engagement levels on Facebook and Twitter.

It has created a league table of the cars that are creating the most chatter amongst UK motorists and aims to show the “real impact” of the car industry’s investment in marketing and branding.

The Honda Civic was identified as the “most talked about” car model in the final quarter of 2011, according to the report, followed by the Ford Focus and Honda Accord.

It also found that UK consumers view Chevrolet as the top brand for comfort, Ford as the most innovative, while Toyota is seen as the most environmental.

Ford was also found to be the best car brand for families, and generated more Twitter mentions than any other manufacturer in the final quarter of 2011.

Toyota was among the top five brands on Twitter during the period, but only received 321 Likes on its UK Facebook page, compared to  almost 5,000 Likes registered by its rival Volkswagen.

Spectrum’s Mark Westaby says: “Our Car Brand Index provides in-depth information about how brands compare in relation to the different criteria that influence our reasons for purchase.

“By benchmarking and tracking changes in online content, conversation and behaviour we lift the bonnet on what brands really mean to us and also show how successful marketing campaigns have been at shaping and changing perceptions.”

The rankings are based on the percentage share of online conversation for each model between 1 October and 31 December 2011, looking at a total of 71,000 online conversations.