General Motors Co.’s Cadillac brand and Toyota Motor Corp.’s namesake division and luxury Lexus line topped the American Customer Satisfaction Index’s annual ranking of automakers. Hit the jump to read the rest of the story.
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Toyota was the only non-premium brand in the top five, tying Cadillac and Lexus with 87 on a scale of 100, followed by Lincoln and Mercedes-Benz with 86. BMW was No. 11, receiving an 83, dropping three points to its lowest mark since an 80 in 1997.
The Toyota score is “a surprise,” Claes Fornell, who created the index in 1994, said in a phone interview. “Toyota makes a fair amount of fairly low-priced cars. For them to be that well-received is impressive, especially when you have a company like BMW scoring lower.”
The index is based on interviews with about 70,000 customers annually concerning satisfaction with goods and services. The annual auto rankings, based on data from 5,000 surveys collected during the second quarter, were released today. Each company’s score is based on a sample of 250 telephone interviews with consumers.
The auto industry improved by 1 point to 83, its second- highest mark. Chrysler Group LLC’s Chrysler brand was the lowest-rated nameplate in the survey at 76. The index is scored on a 0-100 scale.
Among the seven Asian brands in the index, all but Mazda saw their scores increase. Honda, with a score of 85, and Hyundai, with 83, both rose 1.2 percent. Nissan rose 2.4 percent to a score of 84, and Kia earned 81 points — a 1.3 percent gain.
Volkswagen had the largest percentage increase, jumping 3.7 percent to 84.
The Ford brand rose 2.4 percent to 84, and Chevrolet rose 2.5 percent to 82.
