Toyota’s Tazz may have reached the end of the production line, but it has helped the manufacturer record an unprecedented four-award haul in the JD Power and Associates South Africa Customer Satisfaction Index study.
Toyota’s Tazz may have reached the end of the production line, but it has helped the manufacturer record an unprecedented four-award haul in the JD Power and Associates South Africa Customer Satisfaction Index study.
In the study’s third year, Toyota scooped awards for its former budget champ, the Tazz, and the Camry, Land Cruiser Prado and Hilux. BMW, Honda, Subaru and Volkswagen received two awards each, while Ford and Chevrolet captured one award each.
The CSI study measured owner satisfaction covering 77 aspects grouped into four segments. Assessed were vehicle quality and reliability, vehicle appeal, dealership service satisfaction, and the cost of ownership carrying an overall weighting of 32-, 29-, 19- and 20 per cent respectively.
Performances were recorded on a 1 000-point scale, with higher scores denoting greater overall customer satisfaction.
As far as the individual brands were concerned, Honda leads the CSI standings with 864 points. Audi, Subaru, BMW and Mercedes-Benz round out the top five list. Honda was also triumphant in the Initial Quality Survey results published in November.
Alfa Romeo, Jaguar, Mahindra, Mini, Smart and Mahindra were included in the study, but an inadequate sample size prevented them from being ranked. Of the 26 nameplates listed in the study, only 11 beat the industry average of 790 points.
Honda showed the most improved rating, gaining 41 index points – more than any other ranked nameplate – since the inception of the South African study. In the 2006 CSI study, Honda received the highest rating in both the vehicle quality and reliability, and dealership satisfaction segments, while Audi led the vehicle appeal and BMW the ownership cost battles.
“The South Africa market is moving in the right direction in terms of satisfying car owners,” said Brian Walters, senior director of European, Middle East and Africa operations at JD Power and Associates. “As we have seen in other markets in which we conduct the CSI Study, a higher level of satisfaction raises customer’s expectation, which is further incentive for the market players to deliver an even better experience.”
“The J.D. Power and Associates South Africa CSI provides new-vehicle shoppers with invaluable information about key aspects of the vehicle ownership experience,” said John Bentley, editor of . “The comprehensive nature of the CSI measure provides South African consumers with information on ownership of specific nameplates and models. The research and results are made more valuable by the fact they are based on information provided by actual owners of the vehicles.”
The South Africa CSI Study is based on a representative sample of 11 500 owners of new vehicles first registered between October 2004 and September 2005.
Remember, the complete JD Power and Associates’ Customer Satisfaction Index will be published exclusively in the January issue of CAR Magazine, on sale now.
To download a Word document listing the 2006 Customer Satisfaction Index, click here.
