CEOs Share How They've Prioritized Trust as a Success Strategy

Building and keeping trust in a brand is a monumental task. It can mean the difference between soaring success and bankruptcy.

A PwC survey found that while 90 percent of executives believed customers highly trusted their companies, only 30 percent of consumers felt the same way.

Newsweek partnered with market research firm Statista to identify America's Most Trustworthy Companies 2025. This year's ranking includes 700 companies in 23 industries, a handful of which are major players in the automotive space: Harley-Davidson, Discount Tire, Polaris and General Motors, to name a few.

For those companies, each in existence for over a half-century, building trust has been a long process, but one that holds firmly onto guiding principles. "In our 65 years, we've operated with the same guiding principles: be honest, work hard, have fun, be grateful and pay it forward," Tom Williams, chief experience officer at Discount Tire, told Newsweek.

That mantra has helped Discount Tire become an integral part of its employees' lives. "Taking care of our employees and our commitment to 'making more dreams come true' is evident in the number of people who have built careers, families and livelihoods working for and believing in this company," he said.

For its customers, Discount Tire is focused on building a trustworthy ecosystem of service. "For our customers, everything comes down to trust. We start with a deep understanding of what our customers want and need, and work to make the tire shopping and buying experience as inviting, easy and safe as possible. Even as Discount Tire has grown to operate more than 1,200 stores across 39 states, we've never lost sight of our desire to serve communities as their friendly neighborhood tire experts," Williams said.

Polaris, a 71-year-old company, keeps the customer in focus, too. "Whether it is for work purposes or for spending time with friends and family, our riders count on our vehicles to provide unmatched experiences in the outdoors. Consumers have multiple options in the market, and we deeply value their decision to choose Polaris, working hard to earn and maintain their trust. Our internal credo is to Understand the Riding Experience. Live the Riding Experience. Work to Make It Better. and since building our first snowmobile more than 70 years ago, we have done just that. We keep our riders at the center of every decision we make, because we believe that trust is built in both the big and the small actions that we take. Being recognized by Newsweek as one of America's Most Trustworthy Companies reflects our team's ongoing focus on our riders," Mike Speetzen, CEO of Polaris, told Newsweek.

Trust, transparency and safety go hand in hand at Discount Tire. "One example: we empower our employees and customers to make the best choices by openly sharing tire testing data. In fact, Discount Tire cares so much about the safety of the products we sell that we purchased a world-class research testing facility in 2022 and contract a leading third-party testing group to independently test the tires we offer in store. That data collected by our testing partners is presented in Treadwell, a proprietary tool that anyone can access on our website and is the very same tool our associates use each day in stores to help customers find the best tires for their vehicle and driving habits," Williams said.

"The transparent collection of third-party testing data and presentation of customized recommendations through Treadwell means recommendations customers receive online are identical to those that they receive in store, building consistency and trust," he continued.