Although the University of Michigan’s American Customer Satisfaction Index doesn’t have the clout of other industry surveys – such as J.D. Power and Consumer Reports – it does give an indication of a customer’s satisfaction with a six month to three year old vehicle. The domestic automakers probably should start taking note of U of M’s study as all three performed poorly in this year’s survey.
The Big Three had actually been gaining on their Japanese and German rivals over the past few years, but the Michigan automakers took a big hit this year. “The gap is extending. Detroit is falling,” Claes Fornell, the professor in charge of the study, told The Detroit News. “It’s all foreign at the top and all American at the bottom.”
Fornell says that the decrease in satisfaction with the domestic brands is directly related to their truck and SUV-heavy lineups. Consumers have become fed up with high gas prices and therefore aren’t as satisfied with their large vehicles.
General Motors’ Chevrolet brand fell the furthest in the study – slipping by 3.7 percent – and actually ranked just behind Kia . The only brands ranked below Chevy in the survey were Chrysler ’s Dodge and Jeep brands.
Despite the poor performance by Chevy, GM’s Buick was the highest ranked domestic brand, and the company’s Saturn division posted the biggest improvements. Coincidently, Saturn is GM’s most fuel-efficient brand.
Ford ’s Lincoln and Mercury brands fared well – ranking above the industry average – but the Ford brand actually came in below the average.
Lexus , BMW , Toyota and Honda took the top four spots, respectively.
