New
Vehicles That Inspire "Love It or Hate It" Attitudes
in Terms of Styling Often Have a Sales Advantage
"Perceptions
are powerful among new-vehicle shoppers," said Denove. "Reliability
is critical to new-vehicle shoppers, and manufacturers can suffer
from poor reputations for reliability long after they make improvements
in quality. The key is in effectively communicating vehicle strengths
to consumers in order to close the gap between perception and
reality."
The
study also finds that personal experiences with manufacturers
play an important role in why certain makes are avoided. More
than one out of 10 vehicles consumers failed to consider were
specifically avoided because of either their own bad experience
or a friend telling them not to purchase that vehicle.
"This
should serve as a wake-up call to manufacturers on the dangers
of not satisfying their customers," said Denove. "Personal
experiences, whether it be the buyer's own experiences or those
of people they know, are the most influential sources of information
buyers use during the shopping process. The choice is simple-satisfy
your customers today or pay a small fortune in incentives to get
people into the showroom the next time around."
The
2003 Avoider Study is based on responses from 27,241 owners who
registered a new vehicle in January or February of 2003.
For
more information, visit:
http://www.jdpower.com/news/releases/pressrelease.asp?ID=2003121
(Source: J.D.
Power and Associates)
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