Thursday, August 20, 2009

U.S. Automakers Improving Customer Satisfaction

The last year has been a tumultuous year in the automobile business. The bankruptcies of General Motors and Chrysler have highlighted a depression like period in the auto business with sales down by approximately 40%.

A recent survey indicated that the American automobile manufacturers were doing a better job with customer satisfaction than a year ago. That is surprising due to the problems that the automobile industry have been dealing with. Even mighty Toyota lost $5 billion dollars last year....so that shows you it was an extremely challenging year for most automobile manufacturers.

  • 1. Cadillac
  • 2. Lexus
  • 3. Buick
  • 4. Honda
  • 5. Lincoln/Mercury
  • 6. BMW
  • 7. Mercedes
  • 8. Toyota
  • 9. Volkswagen
  • 10. Hyundai
It is noteworthy in this survey that the American brands took three out of the top five spots. GM is generally viewed by the American public as having unreliable cars....but the rankings of Cadillac and Buick show that they are among the best. The Chevrolet and Saturn brands were middle of the pack....with Pontiac among the worst. The Pontiac brand will be discontinued next year.

Ford has been increasing their quality and customer satisfaction over the last few years. Chrysler did improve customer satisfaction over last year....they are still down at the bottom of the pack with Chrysler being the highest rated and Jeep at the bottom.

The Americans have a perception that the Japanese are the most reliable vehicles manufactured with good client satisfaction. Toyota is in eighth place in this survey.....Nissan is in 21st place.

Volkswagen has substantially improved moving up to 9th place...they have placed in last place in a number of prior year surveys

  • 11. Chrysler
  • 12. Saturn
  • 13. Chevrolet
  • 14. Ford
  • 15. GMC
  • 16. Dodge
  • 17. Kia
  • 18. Mazda
  • 19. Pontiac
  • 20. Jeep
  • 21. Nissan

SUMMARY:

The list did not include all manufacturers but should be viewed as a general gauge. Customer satisfaction is a good indicator of a manufacturers ability to build cars that satisfy the owners.
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4 comments:

  1. Hilary Melton-ButcherAugust 20, 2009 at 11:58 PM

    Hi Pete .. it's always interesting to hear about the US market, and to read about the manufacturers and brands - reminds me of what else is out there .. that we don't see here.

    All the best
    Hilary Melton-Butcher
    Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

    ReplyDelete
  2. Peter BacaAugust 21, 2009 at 10:00 AM

    Hi Hilary,

    Apparently, many American cars are not sold in England. I do know that GM promotes the Chevrolet and Cadillac brands in Europe but none of their other brands. Also, you do have Ford of Europe but they are totally different cars. Chrysler does not do very much in Europe.

    Thanks for your comment!

    Pete Baca
    The Car Enthusiast Online

    ReplyDelete
  3. Marketing Unscrambled, Home editionAugust 21, 2009 at 7:26 PM

    Hello Peter,

    Thank you for the list on customer service. Some of them have a long way to go to get better at that.

    Dan and Deanna "Marketing Unscrambled"

    ReplyDelete
  4. Peter BacaAugust 21, 2009 at 11:06 PM

    Hi Dan & Deanna,

    Actually, most manufacturers have improved over the last few years. There are some bright spots regarding the American manufacturers....but Chrysler for example has a long way to go.

    Thanks for your comment!

    Pete Baca
    The Car Enthusiast Online

    ReplyDelete

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