J.D. Power Special Report on GM

[MelvinJ]

Some interesting observations, like Chevrolet being number 1 in Customer Retention.

http://www.jdpower.com/special/power.../gm/GM_SPR.pdf

[Hudson]

Retention is great...if you're also CONQUERING. If you just have retention, that means that people are buying Chevrolets just to replace Chevrolets.

[dav305z]

GM needs to publish these numbers until the average TV viewer is seeing them in their sleep. These numbers provide them with the weapons they need to destroy the decades old pereception that GM builds unreliable cars.

[jro4566]

I kinda figured Chevy would be #1 in customer retention considering how many Americans grew up with Impalas, Malibus, Corvettes, Suburbans, etc...back in the day when Toyota was nothing in the US. Way to go Chevy! Keep those numbers up!

[cincygoblue]

Originally Posted by Hudson

Retention is great...if you're also CONQUERING. If you just have retention, that means that people are buying Chevrolets just to replace Chevrolets.

Good point, and I'd like to see Conquest Numbers somehow. But, Chevy is Retaining customers at a higher rate than anyone else. Where are the defectors going, Pontiac, Cadillac, Buick, Saturn, GMC, Ford or Toyota? But where do Toyota's defectors go, Lexus or somewhere outside of Toyota? This seems to be a good stat, and being at or near the top seems like good news to me. However, what price is paid for retention?

And I also agree that these data should be advertised more often. Customer Retention, Initial Quality and Customer Service.

[VivienM]

Originally Posted by Hudson

Retention is great...if you're also CONQUERING. If you just have retention, that means that people are buying Chevrolets just to replace Chevrolets.

That's better than people buying Toyohondas to replace Chevrolets, though...

[tgagneguam]

I agree with dav305z: GM should be trumpeting the positive aspects of these results until the information becomes second nature to the American auto consumer. It really is the only way to change negative perceptions.

[paul3230]

Good news. But isn't Chevy conquering sales as well? They've been up most of this year due to the new Malibu. The Cobalt is coming out and that has to pull in some import buyers.

[AMcA]

Let's say it loud and clear: this proves that Buick cannot be allowed to die. Their cars are beautifully built, their dealers are excellent, and their customers are happy.

If GM can't build success out of that, it's time to just throw in the towel.

[984mula]

This is why I think if Chevy brought back the Camaro and made it loyal to the sketches I have seen, make it refined, powerful, with a decent options list and low price, it would finally be in a good running with the Mustang. GM is gaining momentum more than anyone.

[atomicshark]

Once the Cobalt goes on sale, I think we will see at least 40% import conquests.

[karhopper]

New Mustang, alright. New Camaro, MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM Camaarooooo ahhhhhhhhhhhh (Drooling) Sorry, what were we talking about?

[alanbaum]

Chevrolet's strong retention numbers are in large part due to the fact that it has a full line of products. When a buyer wants to go from a small car to a mid size car to an SUV, etc., Chevy has products. Ford's retention would also be high, while Hyundai would not due to its lack of a complete product line. Thus, this result is less than it seems.

[MelvinJ]

Originally Posted by alanbaum

Chevrolet's strong retention numbers are in large part due to the fact that it has a full line of products. When a buyer wants to go from a small car to a mid size car to an SUV, etc., Chevy has products. Ford's retention would also be high, while Hyundai would not due to its lack of a complete product line. Thus, this result is less than it seems.

That's true to some extent, but Toyota has the market covered these days about as well as Chevy, lacking only heavy duty pickups, and Ford pretty much covers the entire range that GM does, and both of ranked a bit below GM. For all of Toyota's reputation, I found that impressive. Dodge covers almost the same range and is nowhere to be found above average.

[tgagneguam]

The one thing that irritates me about J.D. Power reports is the lack of statistical analysis. It might be interesting, for example, to determine whether or not Lexus's 6 pphv advantage over Cadillac's second-place 93 pphv in IQS is an actual statistically significant advantage. My guess is that it may not be. I would venture the same guess for the differences between retention rates for Chevrolet - number one at 60.8% - and Toyota (59.3%), and probably the same for Mercedes (58.7%) and Ford (58.1%), for that matter. It certainly would shift bragging rights.

I've also seen graphs that demonstrate how the quality and reliability of American, Far Eastern, and European brands are converging (of course, they lack standard error bars), which supports the contention that many people have that certainly initial quality and to a lesser extent longerterm reliability are becoming quite similar among all makes. The emphasis may lie elsewhere in the future, and producing a high-quality, reliable vehicle will simply become the price of admission to selling automobiles in America.