For the first time a non-German manufacturer has reached the top three of Germany's top auto survey.

The latest AutoMarxX survey by the German national motoring organisation ADAC sees Toyota muscling past Porsche and Audi to come third place after BMW and Mercedes-Benz.

The study is claimed to be the most comprehensive of its kind in Germany, analysing the performance of each marque in key areas such as brand image, sales performance, customer satisfaction, vehicle quality, technology and innovation.

In achieving its overall ranking, Toyota had the distinction of being the top manufacturer in terms of technology and brand trend strengths. Toyota also posted significant improvements in sales, product quality and company economic strength on its fifth position six months ago.

ADAC is Europe's largest public motoring organisation with around 15 million members. Its half-yearly survey, produced by the Centre for Automotive Research in Gelsenkirchen, assimilates a vast amount of data. For example, the details of more than half a million vehicle breakdowns are analysed to assess reliability and 6,000 individual car sales are detailed to monitor real-life residual values.