Jaguar ousts Lexus from atop J.D. Power 2013 Sales Satisfaction Index
11-18-13, 03:47 PM
#1
Lexus Test Driver
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: SF
Posts: 6,467
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Jaguar ousts Lexus from atop J.D. Power 2013 Sales Satisfaction Index
Jaguar has taken the top spot among luxury brands in the 2013 Sales Satisfaction Index, an annual survey conducted by J.D. Power that measures customer satisfaction with the experience of purchasing a new vehicle. The English brand, not even among the top three luxury automakers on the list last year, vaulted ahead of Lexus, which placed third this year after leading the list in 2011 and 2012. Porsche, meanwhile, moved into second place.
The rankings are based on a point score out of 1,000, with Jaguar earning 740 points, Porsche right behind with 739 and Lexus with 737. Volvo, meanwhile, made the biggest improvement among luxury brands with a 30-point jump to 708, bring it up from 11th place to 9th this year.
J.D. Power has a separate ranking for mass-market brands, and this year Mini again tops the list with a score of 718, far outpacing second-place Buick with a score of 694 and making it the fourth time Mini has lead this list. After Buick, the next two ranked brands are both American and both from General Motors, with Chevrolet and GMC sharing third place with a score of 686.
In studying the new-car buying experience, J.D. Power also found that customer satisfaction was higher when salespeople used tablets during the buying process. When such devices were used by salespeople to collect information, demonstrate features or display pricing and payment information, the customer satisfaction score was some 52 points higher – 844 vs. 792 on the study's 1,000-point scale. Despite their positive effect, tablets are presently used by only 10 percent of dealerships, according to the study. Given the influential nature of J.D. Power studies, we're willing to bet you'll soon see a lot more of these computers at dealers near you in short order.
The rankings are based on a point score out of 1,000, with Jaguar earning 740 points, Porsche right behind with 739 and Lexus with 737. Volvo, meanwhile, made the biggest improvement among luxury brands with a 30-point jump to 708, bring it up from 11th place to 9th this year.
J.D. Power has a separate ranking for mass-market brands, and this year Mini again tops the list with a score of 718, far outpacing second-place Buick with a score of 694 and making it the fourth time Mini has lead this list. After Buick, the next two ranked brands are both American and both from General Motors, with Chevrolet and GMC sharing third place with a score of 686.
In studying the new-car buying experience, J.D. Power also found that customer satisfaction was higher when salespeople used tablets during the buying process. When such devices were used by salespeople to collect information, demonstrate features or display pricing and payment information, the customer satisfaction score was some 52 points higher – 844 vs. 792 on the study's 1,000-point scale. Despite their positive effect, tablets are presently used by only 10 percent of dealerships, according to the study. Given the influential nature of J.D. Power studies, we're willing to bet you'll soon see a lot more of these computers at dealers near you in short order.
11-18-13, 05:17 PM
#2
Lexus Fanatic
I'm speaking here neither as a Lexus fan-boy or non-fan-boy (somewhere in the middle), but, one reason why I think Lexus may have been knocked out of first place in the customer sales-satisfaction survey is that, while the sales people may still be customer-friendly and the dealerships still offering perks, the new Lexus vehcles themselves are not pleasing customers the way they once did. The sales people are (apparantly) still treating customers well at the dealership, but, once they take delivery of their new car and drive it home, the drive home may not be the same magic-carpet experence it was with a new Lexus, say, 10-15 years ago. It may have a rattle/squeak or two in it and/or just not give that pleasant a driving experience like older ones did. So, when they get home and have second thoughts about what they've done, they may (?) have some buyers' remorse. I'm not saying this is widespread, but it's probably more likely to happen today than with Lexus vehicles in the past.
mass-market brands
second-place Buick with a score of 694
After Buick, the next two ranked brands are both American and both from General Motors, with Chevrolet and GMC sharing third place with a score of 686.
Here again, I suspect it may be the vehicles themselves more than the salespeople. GM salespeople, in general, do not impress me, though the Cadillac salespeople generally wear expensive-looking suits and try to act professional (which, of course, does not guarantee competency). In general, GM salespeople don't seem to be the industry's sharpest, though some of them do try and treat their customers well. On the other hand, buy a new GM vehicle, and, chances are, even after dealing with second-rate salespeople, when you get that new car home, except for a dud here and there like the Cadillac XTS and Buick Encore, you are probably going to be MUCH more satisfied with it than, say, you would have been with a GM product of just a few years ago.
mass-market brands
second-place Buick with a score of 694
After Buick, the next two ranked brands are both American and both from General Motors, with Chevrolet and GMC sharing third place with a score of 686.
Last edited by mmarshall; 11-18-13 at 05:39 PM.
11-18-13, 05:29 PM
#3
I'm speaking here neither as a Lexus fan-boy or non-fan-boy (somewhere in the middle), but, one reason why I think Lexus may have been knocked out of first place in the customer sales-satisfaction survey is that, while the sales people may still be customer-friendly and the dealerships still offering perks, the new Lexus vehcles themselves are not pleasing customers the way they once did. The sales people are (apparantly) still treating customers well at teh dealership, but ,once they take delivery of their new car and drive it home, the drive home may not be the same magic-carpet experence it was with a new Lexus, say, 10-15 years ago. It may have a rattle/squeak or two in it and just not give that pleasant a driving experience like older ones did. So, when they get home and have second thoughts about what they've done, they may (?) have some buyers' remorse. I'm not saying this is widespread, but it's probably more likely to happen today with Lexus vehicles than in the past.
11-18-13, 05:49 PM
#5
Guest
Posts: n/a
Lexus sold what 250k cars here and Jaguar 10k cars?
Think about that.
Think about that.
11-18-13, 05:58 PM
#6
It's tough, sales people live and die by these surveys that are sent out which directly affects their pay. If a guest marks Very Good instead of Truly Outstanding it is considered a failure in Lexus's eyes. There is a single section on the survey that asks how well the explanation of features on the vehicle was but it does not affect the Technology or Delivery Specialist. So despite the Tech/Delivery Specialists and Finance Managers having a hand with the sale, only the Salesperson's pay gets affected in the end.
11-18-13, 06:14 PM
#7
Lexus Fanatic
iTrader: (20)
Trending Topics
11-18-13, 06:35 PM
#8
Lexus Fanatic
There is a single section on the survey that asks how well the explanation of features on the vehicle was but it does not affect the Technology or Delivery Specialist.
11-18-13, 06:48 PM
#9
Sell enough cars, though, and it probably won't matter if every customer doesn't give you a perfect score on each one. The economics of scale overwhelms it....though it is true that auto companies, today, care far more about the customer than decades ago. Saturn, Lexus, and Infiniti really started something in the 1990s with customer-friendly policies.
That, IMO, should not necessarily blot the sales person's record. Heck, Albert Einstein himself probably couldn't understand some of the electronics in today's cars, much less explain them to rank-and-file customers.
That, IMO, should not necessarily blot the sales person's record. Heck, Albert Einstein himself probably couldn't understand some of the electronics in today's cars, much less explain them to rank-and-file customers.
I agree it's a skewed system and unfair.
11-18-13, 06:53 PM
#10
Lexus Fanatic
Originally Posted by bitkahuna
ok, thought about it, and I think that's irrelevant. since this is about sales satisfaction, not sales volume. porsche sells half what lexus sells too.
.
Last edited by mmarshall; 11-18-13 at 07:00 PM.
11-18-13, 07:02 PM
#11
What Mike was getting at, I think, was that it is easier for a company to kiss 10,000 a**es a year rather than than 250,000. He probably has a point......but that point alone does not explain how Saturn, selling hundreds of thousands of cars a year, was able to achieve such stellar customer-satisfaction rankings in the 1990s, despite selling low-priced econoboxes. The partial-answer, IMO, was the non-negotiable 14% markup on Saturns between wholesale/invoice and retail. Saturns sold at list, with do discounts. That 14% profit, of course, gave Saturn the funds it needed to finance all of those well-known customer-perks. When I had my Saturn SL-2, for instance, among other things, the company's PR office mailed me at least two free D.C, Auto-show passes each year, even though I could get 4 or 5 of them myself at the dealership just for the asking.
.
.
Tesla is doing something similar at the moment and catering well towards customers (I don't see them on this survey though), but that won't last forever. Soon as the Tesla X and baby S come out they won't be able to keep pace I foresee
11-18-13, 07:57 PM
#12
Lexus Fanatic
Well, as I noted in my post, Saturn, as it grew, was able to keep up the customer a** - kissing, though it bears note that Saturn, for a long time, did not deviate from their no-haggle, list-only sales policy, which guaranteed them a 14% markup on each base-car (11-12%, I believe, on the options). That rigid policy gave them the money they needed to do the little extra things for customers that other companies didn't. Unfortunately, GM later ruined Saturn in what was IMO an inexcusable manner.....but I won't go into that here; I've discussed that enough in other threads.
11-18-13, 08:47 PM
#13
Guest
Posts: n/a
What Mike was getting at, I think, was that it is easier for a company to kiss 10,000 a**es a year rather than than 250,000. He probably has a point......but that point alone does not explain how Saturn, selling hundreds of thousands of cars a year, was able to achieve such stellar customer-satisfaction rankings in the 1990s, despite selling low-priced econoboxes. The partial-answer, IMO, was the non-negotiable 14% markup on Saturns between wholesale/invoice and retail. Saturns sold at list, with no discounts. That 14% profit, of course, gave Saturn the funds it needed to finance all of those well-known customer-perks. When I had my Saturn SL-2, for instance, among several other things, the company's PR office mailed me at least two free D.C, Auto-show passes each year, even though I could get 4 or 5 of them myself at almost any local dealership just for the asking (and usually do).
.
.
That said it sure as hell is more impressive to keep a quarter of million people happy than 10,000.
11-18-13, 09:19 PM
#14
Lexus Fanatic
iTrader: (20)
