Big 3 American Carmaker slide down in customer satisfaction study

Detroit’s automakers slipped slightly in an annual survey of customer satisfaction conducted by the University of Michigan, while Asian brands gained ground.

The American Customer Satisfaction Index, produced by the university’s National Quality Research Center, ranked Lexus and BMW as the top automotive brands, each scoring 87 on a 100-point scale.

Toyota and Honda were scored an 86, each up two points from last year’s total.

The top-scoring Detroit brands were Buick, Cadillac and Saturn at 85; Buick and Cadillac fell from last year’s results, while Saturn posted the largest gain of any brand, up four points.

Chrysler’s Jeep brand had the lowest score, a 76, while Chevrolet had the largest decline, falling three points to 79.

Claes Fornell, director of the U-M center, said the results for Saturn reflect new model rollouts, and that overall satisfaction with the industry remains high, at 82.

“The problem for the domestic companies is that they continue to lag behind their foreign counterparts and that their fuel costs are higher,” Fornell said. “This year the gap widens on both accounts.”

University researchers compile the scores based on interviews with 65,000 consumers a year, with at least 250 for each brand, and maintain that the surveys can predict consumer preferences.

source : Freep.com

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