These Brands Offer The Best Car Buying Experience

The 2018 study threw up some interesting results.

Last year, Lincoln took the number one spot in J.D. Power’s annual Sales Satisfaction Index Study in the luxury market. While this surprised some people, Lincoln had no doubt it could offer customers the best overall sales experience. Despite the continued mass investment from parent company Ford, Lincoln lost the top spot in this year’s annual study. Porsche came out on top for 2018, earning 828 points on a 1,000-point scale up from 818 points last year, which was enough to bump it up from fourth to first place.

“This achievement is the result of a customer-focused strategy that has been superbly executed by our 190 US dealer partners,” said Klaus Zellmer, President and CEO of Atlanta-based Porsche Cars North America, Inc. “First and foremost, this award is for our dedicated dealers, who have invested significant time in training for their employees and committed $500 million to improving facilities in just the last five years.”

As for Lincoln, it didn’t even finish in second place, but rather tied with Cadillac in fifth with a score of 814 points – a 16-point drop. Meanwhile, Infiniti came in second with 824 points, up by three from 2017, and Lexus came in third with 823 points. The industry average was 804 points. In last place was Genesis with 736 points.

As for mass market brands, it was Mini that came out on top. Yes, really. We were surprised, too. Based on the same 1,000-point scale, Mini earned 798 points, just one point higher than GMC. Buick and Chevrolet tied for third with 792 points, Ford was in fourth with 788 points, followed by Subaru with 776 points. Last place? You just gotta know, right? Of course. That would be Kia, with 737 points, about the same as Genesis.

J.D. Power’s 2018 study also found out that general satisfaction was typically higher among owners who communicated with salespeople by text message, email, or phone call as opposed to face-to-face communication. The study found that texting was used 21 percent and 15 percent of the time by luxury and mass-market dealers, respectively.

“These aren't apples-to-apples comparisons by any means, but the scores are clear indicators of where shoppers and buyers are going, especially as the consumer base gains a larger mix of younger customers,” said Chris Sutton, vice president of the automotive retail practice at J.D. Power. Based on this, chances are you’re dealership will be more than happy to text with you while negotiating your next car purchase.

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The Four Brands VW Could Clump Together For Super-Premium Spin-Off

And it could be worth how many billions?

Volkswagen is still working to recover its reputation and other related spending in the wake of Dieselgate, and launching an entirely new line of state-of-the-art electric vehicles is just one way of doing that. While we’ve heard some past rumors regarding this, it seems like there’s a fairly good chance VW may be open to selling shares in a potential new super-premium brand group.

Speaking to Bloomberg, VW Group chief financial officer Frank Witter acknowledged that the world’s largest automaker remains opens to the possibility of selling shares of a potential new ultra-premium brand consisting of Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, and Porsche. Doing so could generate billions of dollars. However, VW has yet to make a final decision.

"It is a legitimate question, without a doubt,” Witter said last week at an investment seminar in London. Spinning off those brands as a single clump isn’t entirely without precedent. FCA is the best example when now-former CEO Sergio Marchionne made the decision to spin off Ferrari a few years ago. It has been an extraordinary success so it’s not surprising other automakers may take a similar path.

However, VW is not in any immediate rush. Perhaps the main reason being is that it’s currently preparing to spin off its heavy-trucks division for an IPO. It also wants to make its current 12 brands work together more efficiently. "Every other consideration might be down the road, but it’s currently not a priority the management is working on,” Witter added.

Now that VW’s new CEO, Herbert Diess, has had a few months in the big chair, it’ll be interesting to see what corporate structural changes he’ll make, if any. At the moment, for example, Lamborghini is tied to Audi, but that could change. Diess may ultimately decide to further link Lamborghini with Porsche, and then combine them with Bentley and Bugatti, as stated above.

By acting as a separate entity from the more mainstream VW brands, would allow those four premium brands greater autonomy to act in their more specified interests, potentially allowing for faster innovation and model development.

This premium division could be valued at more than $139 billion, twice that of the entire group’s current evaluation. See the attraction now, if you didn’t before?

View the original article here

These Brands Offer The Best Car Buying Experience

The 2018 study threw up some interesting results.

Last year, Lincoln took the number one spot in J.D. Power’s annual Sales Satisfaction Index Study in the luxury market. While this surprised some people, Lincoln had no doubt it could offer customers the best overall sales experience. Despite the continued mass investment from parent company Ford, Lincoln lost the top spot in this year’s annual study. Porsche came out on top for 2018, earning 828 points on a 1,000-point scale up from 818 points last year, which was enough to bump it up from fourth to first place.

“This achievement is the result of a customer-focused strategy that has been superbly executed by our 190 US dealer partners,” said Klaus Zellmer, President and CEO of Atlanta-based Porsche Cars North America, Inc. “First and foremost, this award is for our dedicated dealers, who have invested significant time in training for their employees and committed $500 million to improving facilities in just the last five years.”

As for Lincoln, it didn’t even finish in second place, but rather tied with Cadillac in fifth with a score of 814 points – a 16-point drop. Meanwhile, Infiniti came in second with 824 points, up by three from 2017, and Lexus came in third with 823 points. The industry average was 804 points. In last place was Genesis with 736 points.

As for mass market brands, it was Mini that came out on top. Yes, really. We were surprised, too. Based on the same 1,000-point scale, Mini earned 798 points, just one point higher than GMC. Buick and Chevrolet tied for third with 792 points, Ford was in fourth with 788 points, followed by Subaru with 776 points. Last place? You just gotta know, right? Of course. That would be Kia, with 737 points, about the same as Genesis.

J.D. Power’s 2018 study also found out that general satisfaction was typically higher among owners who communicated with salespeople by text message, email, or phone call as opposed to face-to-face communication. The study found that texting was used 21 percent and 15 percent of the time by luxury and mass-market dealers, respectively.

“These aren't apples-to-apples comparisons by any means, but the scores are clear indicators of where shoppers and buyers are going, especially as the consumer base gains a larger mix of younger customers,” said Chris Sutton, vice president of the automotive retail practice at J.D. Power. Based on this, chances are you’re dealership will be more than happy to text with you while negotiating your next car purchase.

View the original article here