25 August 2009

U.S. automakers' customer satisfaction rising

Over the past decade or so, when it came to customer satisfaction in the auto world, non U.S.-based carmakers would win awards hands down.

But that is now changing.

For all of the turmoil the Detroit automakers have been going through, customer satisfaction with the vehicles they build surged in this year’s edition of a highly regarded study by the University of Michigan.

The scores for all three Detroit companies rose in the 2009 American Customer Satisfaction Index, http://www.theacsi.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=147&Itemid=155&i=Automobiles+%26+Light+Vehicles.

The Ford Motor Co. improved 5%, second only to Volkswagen.

And in the rankings by brand, GM’s Cadillac tied for first place with its chief competitor, Lexus, while Buick and Lincoln-Mercury placed third and fourth.

The study shows GM, Ford, and Chrysler are making progress in their efforts to improve their reputations, though in the overall ratings of companies, they still lag behind their Asian and European rivals. All three Detroit companies have brands that scored below the industry average, while Toyota, Honda, and BMW were near the top.

“They showed a great deal of improvement, something that we’ve never seen to this extent,” said Claes G. Fornell, a business professor at the University of Michigan who heads the customer satisfaction study. “Until now, we haven’t seen much movement in the right direction from any of the domestic carmakers. This is highly unusual.”

Their improved performance in the study follows similar gains in other surveys that measure customer satisfaction and vehicle quality. GM’s Buick brand tied for first place in this year’s dependability study by J.D. Power & Associates, and all three companies performed significantly better in this year’s J.D. Power initial quality study.

The study shows overall customer satisfaction with automobiles rose to 84%, the highest ever. Yet industry sales are at their lowest level since the recession of the early 1980s, with GM and Chrysler consistently posting some of the biggest declines every month.

Fornell said the Detroit companies’ declining market share actually helped their performance in the satisfaction study, because their most unhappy customers have defected to other brands.

“In most cases, that’s not a good thing, to increase the satisfaction of their customers by losing them,” he said. “But in Detroit’s case, it’s probably not that bad. It leaves them with a smaller, more satisfied customer base that they might be able to manage better and build from.”

The study, which started in 1994, is the result of interviews of 80,000 Americans each spring. The interview period for this year’s study fell during the time when Chrysler and GM were filing for bankruptcy protection and receiving tens of billions in emergency loans from the government.

For related information, go to www.isa.org/productivity.