Ford, Honda top customer loyalty survey

Scott Burgess / The Detroit News

Ford Motor Co. and Honda Motor Co. have the most loyal customers, according to a new study released today by J.D. Power and Associates.

Nearly two-thirds of Ford and Honda owners, 62 percent, return to their brand for their next vehicle. For Ford, the key vehicles are the Edge crossover, the F-Series pickups and the midsize Fusion sedan. Honda customers come back for the Accord sedan, CR-V crossover and the seven-passenger Pilot.

Hyundai, Lexus and Toyota customers return to their respective brands at the rate of 60 percent. Kia, which had a 58 percent retention rate, improved the most in the study, gaining 21 percentage points over 2009 numbers, the study said.

Additionally, the study noted that more drivers want vehicles that are fun to drive and that has played a role for carmakers to get a customer to switch from one brand to another, known in the industry as a conquest customer.

"Now that economic and market conditions have improved somewhat, vehicle owners are increasingly citing emotional, rather than practical, reasons for staying with their vehicle brand or switching to a different one," said Raffi Festekjian, director of automotive product research at J.D. Power and Associates, in a news release. "In light of this, developing new models with attractive styling and that are perceived as fun to drive is increasingly critical for automakers in order to retain and conquest customers as the market continues to recover."

The study also states that domestic carmakers have done a better job at attracting traditional import buyers. In 2010, 14 percent of buyers of domestic brands had previously owned an import, which was up from 10 percent in 2008.

However, the overall loyalty rates remains fairly consistent, the study noted. In 2009, 69 percent of owners who traded in a domestic brand vehicle bought another domestic brand vehicle compared with 68 percent in 2008. Import buyers, however, are much more loyal to import brands, with 90 percent of import buyers traded in an import brand for another import brand in 2010, which is the same number as 2008.

Source;
http://www.detnews.com/article/20101209/AUTO01/12090465/1148/auto01/Ford--Honda-top-customer-loyalty-survey

Business News: Consumer Reports Says Honda (NYSE:HMC) and Ford (NYSE: F) Top Brand Loyalty

A new survey from Consumer Reports shows that Honda (NYSE: HMC) is currently the top auto manufacturer in terms of customer loyalty, with 68% of current owners saying that they are likely to purchase another Honda as their next vehicle.

Ford Motor Co (NYSE: F) ranked second in the report, with 61% of its owners saying that their next vehicle would likely be a Ford. This is a notable increase from its numbers two months again when Ford was fourth on the list, and just 51% of its drivers said they were loyal to the brand.

Consumer Reports surveyed 1,704 U.S. adults that currently own a Chevrolet, Dodge, Ford, Honda or Toyota vehicle.

Toyota took a major hit in loyalty from their customers after several highly publicized news items came out questioning the quality of and safety issues in several of their models. As a whole, the Japanese automaker has slipped to number three with 57% of its customers saying that they would buy a Toyota as their next new vehicle, a 13% decline from their December 2009 results when it had a 70% probable customer retainment rating.

Source;
http://www.americanbankingnews.com/2010/05/16/consumer-reports-says-honda-nysehmc-and-ford-nyse-f-top-brand-loyalty/

Are You Satisfied? What Automakers Retain Their Valued Customers Year After Year?

Resale value and vehicle quality have become increasingly important reasons for new-vehicle buyers to remain loyal to an automotive brand, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2009 Customer Retention Study(SM) released today.

Now in its seventh year, the study measures the percentage of vehicle owners and lessees who replace a previously purchased new vehicle with another from the same brand. Retaining existing owners is critical to a brand's market success, particularly in the current challenging market conditions.

The study finds that the importance of resale value as a reason for owner loyalty has increased by 12 percentage points in 2009, compared with 2008. Meanwhile, the importance of vehicle quality has increased by 6 percentage points. In comparison, in 2008, the reasons with the largest increases in importance for staying loyal to a brand were safety, fuel economy and deals/incentives.

Resale value and quality have also increased in importance as reasons why brands conquest new customers from their competitors, as has the importance of appearance and styling.
"Although there are some signs of economic recovery, the outlook remains uncertain, so for many new-vehicle buyers, high resale value and quality are particularly important considerations that are driving purchase behavior," said Raffi Festekjian, director of automotive product research at J.D. Power and Associates. "Whether manufacturers are striving to increase loyalty or conquesting buyers from other brands, offering attractively styled models and having strong customer perceptions of resale value and quality are critical."

Mercedes-Benz ranks highest among automotive brands in retaining vehicle owners when they buy a new-vehicle, and improves their retention rate by eight percentage points from 2008 to 67 percent in 2009. Following in the rankings are Honda (64%) and Toyota (61%).

"Mercedes-Benz has steadily improved its customer retention rates during the past five years, and in 2009, has achieved the highest rate ever attained by a manufacturer since the inception of the study," said Festekjian. "In particular, customers cite the resale value and appearance and styling of Mercedes-Benz models as primary reasons to remain loyal to the brand."

Overall customer retention in 2009 has remained stable from 2008 at 48 percent. In 2009, 13 of the 36 ranked brands have improved in customer retention rates from 2008, while 20 have declined and three have remained stable. MINI and Porsche post the greatest improvements in customer retention rates from 2008, each improving by 14 percentage points in 2009. For MINI, this improvement is driven primarily by incentives and customer perceptions of resale value of the brand's models. For Porsche, the increase is due to resale value, fuel economy and quality.

The 2009 Customer Retention Study is based on responses from 128,939 new-vehicle buyers and lessees, of which 74,610 replaced a vehicle that was previously acquired new. The study was fielded between February and May 2009 and August and October 2009.

2009 Make Retention Rates

Mercedes-Benz 67%

Honda 64%

Toyota 61%

Lexus 57%

Subaru 57%

Ford 56%

Nissan 55%

Chevrolet 54%

BMW 52%

Porsche 52%

Industry Average 48%

Hyundai 47%

Audi 45%

Volkswagen 44%

Cadillac 43%

MINI 43%

Dodge 42%

Lincoln 39%

Acura 38%

GMC 38%

HUMMER 38%

Kia 37%

Jeep 34%

Mazda 31%

Scion 31%

Mercury 29%

Volvo 29%

Pontiac 28%

Chrysler 27%

Jaguar 26%

Buick 25%

Infiniti 25%

Land Rover 25%

Mitsubishi 25%

Saturn 25%

Suzuki 24%

SAAB 9%

Source;

http://www.autospies.com/news/Are-You-Satisfied-What-Automakers-Retain-Their-Valued-Customers-Year-After-Year-50350/