Survey posts good results for GM, Ford

Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge ranked near the bottom,
however.

DETROIT FREE PRESS

DETROIT — U.S. automakers gained ground in a University of Michigan customer satisfaction survey released Tuesday, marking the second report in a week that shows positive signs for the quality of General Motors and Ford Motor brands.

Toyota Motor’s Lexus brand ranked first in the study, which asks car owners to rate their satisfaction with the vehicles they own. Lexus scored 87 on a 100-point scale.

Ford’s Lincoln and Mercury brands, GM’s Buick and Cadillac brands and BMW all tied for second at 86. The scores are part of the American Customer Satisfaction Index produced by the University of Michigan’s National Quality Research Center.

The scores are encouraging for Detroit because they come in a year when the domestic nameplates — led by GM — are trying to offer less in incentives, said Claes Fornell, director of the center.

In previous years, owners may have felt some satisfaction because they thought they had gotten a good deal on a domestic brand, Fornell said. Quality likely is driving the scores upward this year, he said.

“I think that’s much more sustainable than playing the pricing game,” Fornell said. “Everything seems to be moving in the right direction.”

Surveys

The U-M study follows a report issued last week by J.D. Power and Associates that showed Buick tied with Lexus in quality for vehicles three years old. Cadillac and Mercury ranked in the top four, as well.

In June, a J.D. Power study on initial quality, which looks at problems in the first 90 days of ownership, also showed improvement by Detroit brands. Ford and Mazda, partly owned by Ford, topped the most categories with a combined five segment winners.

The American Customer Satisfaction Index measures attitudes, asking people whether a product met their expectations and how close it is to their ideal product in that category.

The J.D. Power surveys look at more objective measures, measuring problems per vehicle.

The University of Michigan study is another indicator that Ford’s focus on quality is paying off, said Ford spokeswoman Anne Marie Gattari.

“This kind of customer satisfaction data is very exciting to us,” Gattari said. “It does validate to us that what we’re doing is working.”

The right direction

GM also was pleased with the results, said spokeswoman Janine Fruehan. The third-party studies continue to rank Buick and Cadillac among the leaders in quality, she said.

“It’s further confirmation that we are moving in the right direction and we are getting consistency from study to study, year to year,” Fruehan said.

Much like the J.D. Power reports, the University of Michigan study still shows Toyota and Honda at or near the top among non-luxury brands. Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge ranked near the bottom.

Toyota and Honda remain tough competitors, but they both dropped in the satisfaction index from last year, Fornell said. Toyota fell 3.4 percent and Honda dropped 2.3 percent, with both scoring 84 on the index.