J.D. Power and Associates and L'Automobile Magazine 2005 France Customer Satisfaction Index
To view the release in both English and French and the accompanying charts, CLICK HEREParis June 21, 2005:
The France CSI study measures vehicle ownership satisfaction among
four
key measures (shown in order of importance):
- Vehicle
Quality/Reliability (38%)
- Vehicle Appeal
(22%)
- Ownership Costs
(20%)
- Service Satisfaction
(19%)
J.D. Power and Associates’ annual CSI studies
are
conducted independently and are designed to provide the industry with
global
benchmarks for measuring and improving customer satisfaction, and give
consumers
access to reliable and accurate information about many different vehicle
models. The global marketing
information services firm conducts CSI studies in across the world,
including:
Europe (France, Germany, United Kingdom); North America (Canada, Mexico,
United
States); Asia Pacific (Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia,
New
Zealand, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand); and Africa (South
Africa).
The results
for
the France CSI study are based on responses from more than 16,000 French
motorists who rated their experiences with their vehicle, the dealer, and
the
cost of vehicle ownership. The
study provides information regarding
25
ranked brands and 95 ranked models after an average of approximately 2½
years on
the road.
The study recognizes
individual car models with awards in six different segments: small car,
lower
medium, upper medium, executive/luxury, MPV and SUV, with
- Toyota Yaris Verso
(small
car)
- Toyota Corolla
(lower
medium)
- BMW 3 Series (upper
medium)
- BMW 5 Series
(executive/luxury)
- Mazda Premacy
(MPV)
In a ranking of
nameplates
based on overall customer satisfaction, Honda leads the industry as the
most
satisfying brand to own with an index score of 819 (based on a 1,000-point
scale). Honda performs particularly
well in the quality/reliability and service satisfaction measures. Honda is followed closely in the
rankings by BMW with an index score of 816. BMW performs well in the vehicle appeal
measure.
“The study shows
that there
is a wide gap between the vehicles that give high levels of satisfaction to
owners and those that do not, suggesting that there is room for the
industry to
do more to meet the needs of vehicle owners in France,” said Stuart
Crawford-Browne, research manager at J.D. Power and Associates in
Europe. “Satisfaction with the ownership
experience is important to vehicle manufacturers as it drives consumer
repurchase intentions and word-of-mouth promotion of their
brands.”
The Customer
Satisfaction
Index score measures how well customer expectations are met by the
ownership
experience. The challenge for
manufacturers is to understand consumer expectations and exceed
them.
“As in other
markets,
Honda, BMW and
Consumer Benefit
“The study provides very interesting results
with some
unexpected outcomes,” said Stéphane Meunier, editor in chief of L’Automobile Magazine. “This is the first time such
detailed
information on the satisfaction of French automobile owners is available to
the
public. The study provides a
complete picture of driver experiences with their cars. It allows the reader to make comparisons
between brands and models that are relevant to them and offers a
complementary
source of information to what L’Automobile Magazine is
already
providing, such as road tests and reliability
surveys.”
A complete list of all models reported in the 2005
J.D.
Power and Associates/L’Automobile
Magazine France Customer Satisfaction Index Study, along with more
detail on
how they perform, can be found in the June 21, 2005, edition of L’Automobile
Magazine.
About J.D. Power and
Associates
The European
headquarters of
J.D. Power and Associates is located in
About L’Automobile
Magazine
With a monthly
circulation
of 180,000, L’Automobile
Magazine,
established in 1946, is the first monthly car magazine in
