PERCEPTIONS VS. REALITY
IN its 2012 Avoider Study of the US car market, JD Power and Associates found that 43 per cent of buyers who avoid a particular car model do so based on preconceptions or common knowledge. A poor rating or review in a motoring magazine accounted for 38 per cent of instances of avoidance, and previous ownership experience only in 14 per cent of cases. In short, car buyers are increasingly making purchasing decisions based on second-hand information over a braai, rumours, hearsay and old wives’ tales.
Besides this being a worrying trend for motoring publications such as CAR, it must be sending shivers down the corridors at car companies. "The fact that so many new-vehicle buyers may be basing their opinions about quality and reliability on pre-conceived notions, rather than concrete information or data, demonstrates how important it is for automakers to promote the quality and reliability of their models," said Jon Osborn, research director at JD Power and Associates.
This is easier said than done. Similar to how a catch grows in size each time a fishing story is retold; a two-week wait for parts becomes a four-month one by the time it has been retold over a few beers. In South Africa, the situation is similar to the one in the US; the French marques are affected particularly badly. A recent drive in Peugeot’s superb 508 highlighted the problem. Here is a car that, no matter how high we may sing its praises, will be avoided like the plague by new-car buyers. Bad reputations lead to bad resale value, and there’s precious little to be done about that. It possibly gets even worse; the study also found an all-time high in xenophobia, with respondents who avoided particular imported cars due to their country of origin rising to 14 per cent, the highest in the nine years of the study. The French-car stigma is as strong as it is unfair.
If there is a sliver of hope for these marques (ignoring the obvious improvements in product that have already taken place the past few years), it is the rapid rise in consumer confidence in the Korean makes. As you will see in our Top 12 Best Buys, sponsored by FNB, from page 50, the Koreans are on a roll in terms of product, following on strong performances worldwide in customer satisfaction and quality surveys.
So, perhaps to regain confidence lost, the French need to study the Korean way. Now, doesn’t that full five-year/100 000 km maintenance plan on all new Peugeot passenger cars suddenly look like a familiar, and appealing recipe? If that doesn’t work…