Survey and studies

Plan kicks CSI into cyber era

12:01 am U.S. ET | Jan. 28, 2013
Hyundai is trying to bring the venerable written CSI survey into the age of the cloud, Twitter and Facebook. The brand has devised a new method, using e-mail and three-day turnarounds, to change the way it determines customer satisfaction.... Read More »

 

EDITORIAL

Satisfaction surveys: Timing is everything

12:01 am U.S. ET | Jan. 28, 2013
Now may be the perfect time to replace or at least radically overhaul the traditional Customer Satisfaction Index. Millions of customers who haven't bought new cars or trucks in several years are heading back to dealerships as part of the industry sales surge. And those customers have different wants and needs than they did the last time they bought new vehicles.... Read More »

 

Vehicle navigation systems frustrate more car owners, study says

10:54 am U.S. ET | Jan. 22, 2013
Owners' satisfaction with their new vehicles' navigation systems declined in 2012 as complex menu systems, voice-control commands and entering destinations frustrated users, according to J.D. Power and Associates.... Read More »

 

China car market to grow 8% on small-city demand, McKinsey says

Nov. 21, 2012 06:01 CET
China's passenger-vehicle sales will expand by an average 8 percent a year to reach 22 million in 2020, driven by demand for sport-utility vehicles and rising incomes in smaller cities, according to a report from McKinsey & Co.... Read More »

 

Lexus tops J.D. Power's China vehicle quality study

Nov. 1, 2012 14:09 CET
International luxury brands continued to dominate J.D. Power's Initial Quality Study for China this year. Lexus earned the top ranking with only 54 problems reported per 100 vehicles. Mercedes-Benz, BMW AG and Audi AG ranked second, third and fourth.... Read More »

 

A mixed bag of benefits

12:01 am U.S. ET | Oct. 18, 2012
Employees at the 100 Best Dealerships To Work For gave their employers high marks for pay and benefits. And they should. For example, 98 of those 100 dealerships offer some form of retirement savings plan, according to a survey of those employers. But that was a rare case of near-unanimity among the 100 Best Dealerships. The survey of those 100 dealerships found wide variations in what benefits they offer to their employees.... Read More »

 

Denso invites automakers, rival suppliers to share driver stress research

12:01 am U.S. ET | Oct. 9, 2012
Denso wants to form a research group with automakers and suppliers to study driver stress. Denso has studied people's physiological reactions to using infotainment devices while driving. Now, the company wants to share its research to help develop biometric yardsticks to help determine whether infotainment systems are user-friendly.... Read More »

 

Surprise: Older drivers do well with speech controls

12:01 am U.S. ET | Oct. 9, 2012
This summer, Agero Inc., a Medford, Mass., telematics provider, tested the ability of motorists 65 to 75 years old to operate a voice-activated navigation system while driving. "They did very well," said Thomas Schalk, Agero's vice president of voice technology.... Read More »

 

Jaguar, Porsche and Cadillac gain; Chrysler, Ford slip as industry quality jumps, J.D. Power says

1:00 pm U.S. ET | June 20, 2012
Jaguar, Porsche and Cadillac posted the biggest improvements in new-vehicle quality for the 2012 model year, while the Mini, Chrysler, Mercedes-Benz, Ford and Subaru brands fell back in a year that saw overall industry quality advance nearly 5 percent, J.D. Power and Associates said today. Lexus topped J.D. Power's 2012 U.S. Initial Quality Study for the second year in a row with 73 problems reported per 100 models tracked, the same as in 2011.... Read More »