Jaguar, Mercury tops in sales satisfaction

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Jaguar, Mercury tops in sales satisfaction, J.D. Power reports

Posted on Wednesday, December 9th, 2009 at 9:27 AM EST. (Employee News)

Jaguar buyers are more satisfied by their buying experience than those of any other luxury brand in the annual J.D. Power and Associates’ Sales Satisfaction study, the Automotive News reported.

Mercury scored the best for sales satisfaction among mass-market brands in a separate, and new, category that Power created to make comparisons between brands more equitable, the trade paper said. Although 13 luxury brands scored higher on average than 24 mass-market brands—864 to 832 on Power’s 100-point scale—the ranges overlapped considerably, the Automotive News said.

And although U.S. industry sales plunged 24 percent so far this year, customers are more satisfied with the purchasing process, the story said. The Automotive News said scores rose for 29 of the 37 brands, mostly because survey respondents say dealership personnel were more attentive during the buying and delivery process.

Jaguar, which scored highest with 898 points, has finished on top of the survey for five of the past six years, the paper said. Rounding out the top five luxury brands — which have both the highest overall scores and are the only ones above the study’s luxury average — were Cadillac, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz and Land Rover. Audi, at 828, finished last among the luxury brands and was the only brand in that category with a score below the mass-market average, the story said. (Automotive News)

Peter Grady, Vice President—Network Development and Fleet, issued the following statement today in response to J.D. Power and Associates 2009 Sales Satisfaction Index Study (SSI):

Chrysler Group results of the J.D. Power and Associates 2009 Sales Satisfaction Index (SSI) for the company remained virtually unchanged from last year. This is good news given the fact that the survey focused on vehicles purchased and registered during May and June 2009, a time of unprecedented uncertainty for the company and our dealer body.

Now that the company has emerged from bankruptcy and has set a clear path for success in the future, uncertainty can be eliminated. Our key to success remains in retaining our customers through an exceptional dealership experience and products that exceed our customers’ expectations.

To that end, we have implemented several initiatives with a focus on improving the relationship with our customers and creating a world-class dealer network.

Nearly a year ago, we started the Customer Promoter Survey (CPS). CPS involves direct contact with the customer usually the day after the customer visits the dealer. A simple question is asked: “Would you recommend us to your friends? If not, why?” The response goes directly and immediately to the dealer the next day, allowing the dealer to respond to and resolve issues immediately.

In addition, the company launched Customer Care Standards in September to help dealerships provide a consistently superior shopping, buying and ownership experience for our customers. They cover every aspect of customer interaction with a dealer, from the expectation of care the moment a customer walks in the door, to the sales experience, the after-sales experience, and the ongoing relationship with maintenance and service experiences. More than 5,280 dealers and managers, representing more than 1,900 dealerships, have participated in training on these new standards. The training and monitoring of the application of the standards will be ongoing.

Exceeding our customers’ expectations is our top priority. With this new survey tool and the Customer Care Standards, we know we will see the SSI metric and our customer satisfaction scores increase in the future.