...Chevrolet does for the 2003 model year, according to the Detoit News, which references a J.D. Power and Associates 2003 customer retention study. I visited J.D. Power and Associates' Web site, but I could not locate the study.

According to the article, Chevrolet has a 61% customer retention (aka loyalty), followed by "Toyota at 59.3 percent, Mercedes-Benz at 58.7 percent, Ford at 58.1 percent and Honda at 57.1 percent. "

The article mentioned the very high retention of loyal Chevy and Ford pick-up owners. No figures were offered, but that made me wonder the degree of skewing involved comparing pick-ups vs autos.

If anyone can find a more complete list customer rentention result, please advise. Thanks. Oh, the article is at :

http://www.detnews.com/2003/autosins.../a01-22448.htm

 

I just found the JD Powers and Associates own article with a graph that shows customer rentention:

http://www.jdpower.com/news/releases...asp?ID=2003175

Acura is pretty far down the list. I cannot read the number on my 'puter screen, but it looks something like 36.6%.

What would be very interesting to see is what makes of cars are "non-loyal" customers buying? For example, what did 63% of Acura owners buy instead of another Acura?

 

Just on the surface it seems implausible.

What percentage of Chevrolet sales are fleet sales? Leases, by companies other than GMC? I'd guess it's higher than Acura's.

 

here is the chart from JD Power.


I've seen a lot of Toyotas, Mitsubishis, Nissans, and Korean cars at rental fleets. I've seen a few Hondas in some fleets around here.

I am surprised Kia is 49.9%

 

Not to mention that Chevrolet (GM) is on the top, but Oldsmobile and Isuzu (also GM) are on the bottom.

I wonder if JPMorgan Chase Leasing buys a few hundred-thousand Chevys one year and buys a few hundred-thousand Chevys the next year they're considered a single "repeat customer".

Something's not right here.

 

Acura doesn't offer much for the 'upwardly mobile', IMO. Some yuppie coming into the luxury market for the 1st time may buy an Acura, move up the corporate ladder, and when s/he looks for the next car in a higher price range... what's there? The RL???

I wonder how skewed this is by loyalty incentives that can be quite high for american car companies. Maybe it isn't since some of those companies are very low. Isuzu?? I think I see about one every two weeks. Oldsmobile should be pretty low since it's being discontinued.

 

What matters is this, Acura has a 36.6% retention rate while Lexus is at 55.5%. Strange as Infiniti is lower than Acura at 36.5%. I guess after people buy an Acura or Infiniti they move up to MB. BMW, Audi and Lexus.

 

Hee. Hee. VW tops Acura in customer loyalty...

Seriously, though. If Acura had offered more MT's in the bigger models when I was in the market for a new car after selling my old Integra in 1999, I would have stayed. They kept the last integra too long (it was too small anyway, the 1990-3 was a great size) also.

Now that I've been in German cars for 3 years, it will be very hard to go back. I keep trying though. The TSX is still near the top of a very short list for my next car.

 

The article in the Detroit News isn't very consistent about its analysis. The article suggested that quality was a factor in customer retention. However, some highly-regarded cars--known for their quality--are rated low in retention, AND vice versa.

Yes, apparently some of the domestic makes have been improving in their quality over the years. But what scarces me away from American and European makes is that their quality (which by my book absolutely includes reliability) has been spotty or all over the charts. Just look at all of the US and German makes of cars that are not recommended (as in "cars to avoid") that appear in Consumer Reports annual issue. Neither American nor European makes have a consistent record.

GM is destroying Isuzu by rebadging their GM SUVs and pickups as Isuzus. That pacifies the UAW. In the North American market, what's an Isuzu anymore anyway?

 

From the JD Powers press release: "Chevrolet models with the strongest retention rates include the Avalanche, with 74.5 percent of owners purchasing another Chevrolet model, TrailBlazer (73.8%), Impala (70.1%) and Silverado 1500/2500 (68.7%)."

Another thought (not my own) is: what would the chart look like if you excluded TRUCKS from the analysis? Do many Ford F-series buyers switch to Chevy Avalanches and vice-versa?

THEN would it be MB>Toyota>Honda>Lexus? THAT I'd believe!

 

Still, it's significant and telling that truck fans appreciate their brand's vehicles. That can't be dismissed, especially considering the other makes of vehicles that are just starting to introduce pick-ups.

If we were to remove so-called trucks from the domestic makes, then we would have to remove all station wagons that marketing geeks have categorized as "trucks" from all makes of vehicles too. (I'm referring to SUVs--wagons on a truck frame, which historically is merely a station wagon.)

Why MB got high rankings is beyond me since that make has had dismal--below average--rankings on reliability. But this survey doesn't positively correlate to quality, per se. It's owner retention.
Interesting!

Question arises as to whether this survey includes fleet sales.

 

You said it domn, not me! LOL, just kidding...