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U.S. Consumers Favor Japanese and German Automakers

Lexus and BMW top satisfaction survey

By Joe Benton
ConsumerAffairs.com

August 19, 2008

The customer satisfaction survey, conducted by the University of Michigan, asks owners to rate their satisfaction with the brand of vehicle they own. The survey measures opinions from consumers who have purchased their vehicle within the last six months to three years.

For the first time in the 15 years of the survey, no domestic brands ranked in the top four ending two years of consumer satisfaction gains for U.S. automakers.

The Lexus brand and German automaker BMW tied at the top of the consumer satisfaction list. Toyota was third and Honda Motor Company fourth.

The General Motors Buick lineup scored the highest marks of any domestic brand. The GM Saturn, the most fuel efficient line offer by GM, was the most improved over last year with consumer satisfaction up almost 5 percent. Chevrolet lost the most ground, dropping 3.7 percent.

The only brands worse than Chevy were the Chrysler Dodge and Jeep. Jeep remained dead last in consumer satisfaction. The Chrysler brand also lost ground marking the fourth straight in which all three Chrysler brands have been at or below the industry average in consumer satisfaction.

Consumers remained unimpressed with Ford products with consumer satisfaction unchanged since last year.

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