Good news for Detroit: Ford and GM cars top the list for customer satisfaction (1st time ever)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.examiner.com/green-car-in-national/good-news-for-detroit-ford-and-gm-cars-top-the-list-for-customer-satisfaction-1

* August 17th, 2010 5:30 am

For the first time ever, two American brands – Ford and General Motors – top the list for satisfied customers. That’s good news for Detroit.


Ford and GM top the list for customer satisfaction, beating imports for first time.
Photo: 1020 Ford Taurus, Ford photo


It’s the all important ACSI index, released today, Tuesday, August 17. ACSI stands for American Customer Satisfaction Index, the such only national survey of customer buying habits and satisfaction across all purchases, not just cars, trucks and motorcycles. In the past, the ratings have shown to be a solid predictor of future buying habits – and that also is good news for Detroit. And since stock market analysts also pay attention to the ACSI report, it is good news for the stock prices of Ford and the General Motors IPO.


Our satisfaction with our car purchases is down slightly from last year, but that was the buying frenzy of the steep discounts of the "Cash for Clunkers" program.



FULL story at link.

[HopeHoops]

1. Well it certainly isn't "first time ever".

It is simply since this index was started. The article doesn't even state when this index first started - two years ago? Five? I'm quite certain there were no imports competing with the '30's Fords (the cars that gave us NASCAR), a favorite among bootleggers. Actually, there weren't any other domestics competing with Ford in a significant way until the late 30's.

That aside, in the 70's, Japanese cars were ugly little shitboxes that rusted if you looked at them. In the 80's, there was a myth that they were superior (in actuality that meant "cheaper") and that fed the conversion of the myth into reality by the early 90's. Instead of lining the pockets of the executives, they put their profits into modernizing and converting to robotic manufacturing techniques while Detroit continued to plod along with 1950's era (might be a slight exaggeration) processes.

Detroit definitely noticed. It was a slow process, but by 2000 they were at least up to par in technology. Unfortunately, not in corporate structure (and frankly I don't think they've made much progress there). The one thing Detroit will always understand better than any foreign company is what Americans want. Whether they deliver it or not is another issue, but they at least understand it. Have you seen the Charger, Camero, Mustang? Oh, and Ford is bringing back the Boss with a 302 - and a similar performance package (exhaust, suspension, etc) to what the late 60's Boss had. Japan has no such legacy to capitalize on. They also don't have a real pickup. The Tundra is the closest they've got, but it is pretty lame. That's just not their gig.

But my real point is that the "first time ever" claim may be true for this particular index, but it is certainly not the "first time in history" and the last time really wasn't that long ago.

[BeFree]

2. Craftmanship

These days, all that are left working are the best workers.

Everyone else has been laid off... like me. Oh, I am still good, just can't work the same way... y'know, like, too old.

These days our products are being built by the best we have, so it is no surprise new cars are built better.

[HopeHoops]

4. So much of it is computer driven now and they're almost identical in their work.

That has a positive and a negative side to it. If they are programmed correctly, all of the cars are identically correct. If there's a mistake in the programming, they are all fucked - can you say "recall of a shitload of cars"? Sure, I knew ya could.

There are still a lot of jobs that require human intervention, but welding, painting, etc. are pretty much machine-driven now.

I'm a computer geek and the age thing works against me as well. Potential employers look at 30 years of experience and think "costs too much to hire". Yes, it is age discrimination, no question. But if all they are doing is putting your resume in a different pile on their desk, you don't have a case to go on. Curiously, that is changing. The H1-B influx (another thing to thank Dubya for) killed the industry so badly that it actually created a drop in H1-B applications because outsourcing overseas was cheaper for companies. That has resulted in a huge decrease in college kids going into IT because it isn't seen as a viable career in the US. That's weird from my perspective since that's all they pushed for those of us who were good in math and science ('81). Now the older IT worker is actually a valuable resource. Go figure.

Manufacturing is still pretty much fucked. There are some minor improvements (Ford just added some jobs for the first time in several years). That isn't good enough. We need MAJOR improvements. I'm all for a federal law requiring imports to meet fair wage requirements, adjusted for the local economy of course, but at least fair. China is the primary offender from a manufacturing perspective, but they aren't the only one. South America, most of S.E. Asia, and some of the former USSR countries also exploit workers in a similar manner.

Gripe, bitch, moan, complain. I guess I'm done now.

[Omaha Steve]

5. Chevy Corvette engines are still hand made

Saw it on a documentary last week. But your on the money with your comments.

[Blue_Tires]

3. never forget the congresscritters openly wanting to let Detroit die