New Delhi, December 5th, 2007 - According to the findings of the 2007 Four-wheeler Total Customer Satisfaction (TCS) study released today by leading market information provider, TNS, new models launched by General Motors, Mahindra Renault and Maruti have proven a significant hit with customers.
Conducted by TNS specialist division, TNS Automotive, the study is the largest syndicated automotive study in India representing the responses of more than 7,600 new car buyers. Providing a measure of satisfaction and loyalty a given model enjoys with its customers, this comprehensive study covers over 60 models with customer evaluations of sales satisfaction, product quality, vehicle performance and design, aftersales service, brand image, and cost-of-ownership. .
“The growth curve of the Indian Automotive market has been quite remarkable. Manufacturer’s have been able to read their customer expectations accurately and have responded with products which have been in tune with the evolving needs.” said Pradeep Saxena, Senior Vice President of TNS Automotive. “The evidence of this fact can be seen from the high level of satisfaction of the new customers of Chevrolet Aveo U-VA, Mahindra Renault Logan and Maruti Swift Diesel. These customers placed their trust in the manufacturers and bought newly launched models and the manufacturers did not disappoint”, he added.
To provide comparison among similar groups of vehicles, the study’s rankings are done at the vehicle segment-level. The models ranking highest in their respective segments for total customer satisfaction are: Maruti Alto in ‘Entry Compact’; Hyundai Santro in ’Premium Compact’; Chevrolet Aveo U-VA in ’Upper Premium Compact’, Maruti Swift Diesel in ’Small Car – Diesel’; Hyundai Accent Petrol in ’Entry Midsize’; Honda City in ’Midsize’; Skoda Octavia in ’Premium Midsize’; Mahindra Renault Logan Diesel in ‘Midsize Car – Diesel’; Honda Accord in ’Entry Luxury’; Toyota Innova & Mahindra Scorpio (tied) in ’SUV/ MPV’; and Honda CRV in “Premium SUV”. (ANNEXURE 1)
Some traditionally strong models continue to please customers. The Maruti Alto finds extremely high satisfaction levels across all product and customer service areas. Scoring similarly well, the Hyundai Santro and Accent benefit from their manufacturer’s 360 degree approach to brand management encompassing product quality, after sales service and brand image.
With the highest customer satisfaction scores in the industry, the Swift Diesel is another landmark in Maruti’s ongoing success. Maruti exited the diesel segment several years ago but returned with the Swift in response to rapid growth in demand. The Mahindra Renault Logan Diesel has also proved popular with customers who highly rate the overall quality of the product.
The good news for Mahindra also extends to the SUV/MPV segment where its Scorpio model ranks top alongside the Toyota Innova. Honda, ever consistent, repeats the 2006 performance with its City, Accord and CRV models topping their respective segments; the company’s core strength lying in its performance as indicated by very high scores on this dimension across all its models. In the premium midsize segment, Skoda’s Octavia stays ahead of competition from the Toyota Corolla and the Honda Civic with strong brand image and product quality.
“Differences in customer expectations across geographical regions and town classes continue to challenge marketers on a day to day basis”, highlights Pradeep Saxena. “Customers in the North are significantly more satisfied than their counterparts in the South. Similarly the expectations of customers in top tier cities seem to be better catered to, whereas the after sales service in smaller cities leaves customers relatively dissatisfied.”
Remy Pothet, Global Automotive Sector Head, TNS Group commented: "I am quite impressed to see that in its very first year on the market, the Mahindra Renault Logan Diesel ranks first in its category surpassing the longer, more established models sold in India." He also added, "The recent TCS results demonstrate that Mahindra Renault is doing an excellent job of responding to their local customers' needs."
Charts and graphs extracted from this press release must be accompanied by a statement identifying TNS Automotive as the publisher and TNS Automotive 2007 India Four-Wheeler Total Customer Satisfaction Study as the source.
Notes to editors
2007 Four-Wheeler TCS Study
The TCS study was conducted from July through November 2007 across 28 centres:
Agra, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar, Calicut, Chandigarh, Chennai, Cochin, Coimbatore, Dehradun, Delhi (NCR), Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Jallandhar, Kolkata, Lucknow, Ludhiana, Mumbai, Patna, Pune, Raipur, Ranchi, Surat, Trivandrum, Vadodara and Vijaywada.
About TNS Automotive
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About TNS
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