ALG, the benchmark for forecasting vehicle residual values, has announced the winners of its 14th annual Residual Value Awards. Mercedes-Benz and Honda received top honors for Premium Brand and Mainstream Brand, respectively.

ALG’s Residual Value Awards (RVA) also honor vehicles in 24 segments that are forecasted to retain the highest percentage of their Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) after a three-year period.

According to ALG, award recipients are chosen after evaluation of vehicle criteria, including segment competition, historical vehicle performance and industry trends. This year’s awards honor 2014 model-year vehicles and will be presented to automakers at the Los Angeles Auto Show this week.

“Toyota, Audi and Honda captured the most segment honors due to the consistent high value of all their products,” said Larry Dominique, president of ALG. “Honda was named top Mainstream Brand due to their prudent use of incentives — $1,000 lower than the mainstream average — and low rental fleet penetration. These factors help maintain vehicle value, which tremendously benefits consumers.”

Seven vehicles were first-time winners in their segments: Hyundai Accent (Subcompact Car), Mazda Mazda3 (Compact Car), Chevrolet Corvette (Premium Sports Car), Chevrolet Camaro (Mainstream Sports Car), Toyota Avalon (Full-size Car), Porsche Panamera (Premium Executive) and Kia Soul (Subcompact Utility Vehicle).

And this year, ALG also established five new segments: Midsize Utility 2-Row (winner: Hyundai Santa Fe Sport), Midsize Utility 3-Row (winner: Toyota Highlander), Off-Road Utility (winner: Toyota FJ Cruiser), Premium Midsize Utility 2-Row (winner: Land Rover Range Rover Sport) and Premium Midsize Utility 3-Row (winner: Audi Q7).

“Residual value is critical to automakers and consumers alike because it’s a complete indicator of the vehicle’s value, taking into account quality, durability, brand desirability and other factors,” said Dominique. “For vehicle owners, residual value forecasts what their return on investment will be, and the Residual Value Awards clearly show which products will best retain their value over the next 36 months.”

This year’s awards introduced a new methodology this year, the Residual Value Brand Index, which ensures that brands with portfolios heavily weighted on low-residual segments — such as larger trucks and SUVs — are not at a disadvantage, according to ALG.

“Trucks historically have lower residual value due to the work and abuse they endure, so manufacturers that have sold a high volume of trucks have been adversely affected in previous brand rankings,” said Eric Lyman, vice president of content and partner development at ALG. “This new index is a better way to equally measure brands against each other, regardless of the segments in which they compete.”