Consumers Find New, Remade Models More Appealing Than Ever, J. D. Power Finds
July 16, 2009

By Michelle Krebs

Like Sally Field when accepting her Best Actress Oscar, consumers seemed to be saying of   their new and redesigned vehicles "You like me ... you really like me."

Indeed, J. D. Power and Associates 2009 APEAL study, released Thursday, consumer satisfaction with their new and redesigned models at a three-year high. Report highlights include:     

- Porsche ranked highest among nameplates for a fifth consecutive year;
- Volkswagen captured four segment-level awards--more than any other vehicle nameplate in 2009;
- new and redesigned models scored higher than last year's new and redesigned models and higher than this year's carryover models.
- seven new and redesigned models ranked highest in their respective segments: Dodge Challenger; Ford F-150; Ford Flex; Hyundai Genesis; Nissan Maxima; Volkswagen CC and Volkswagen Tiguan.

Short for Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout, APEAL basically shows what buyers like about their cars versus J.D. Power's Initial Quality Survey that shows what's gone wrong.

New Models, Redesigns On Track

The 2009 APEAL score for all-new and redesigned models averaged 790 on a 1,000-point scale -- 11 points higher than in 2008 and 15 points higher than the 2009 score for carryover models, suggesting automakers are on track in developing new models that are highly appealing, said David Sargent, J. D. Power vice president of automotive research.

 "The greater challenge for manufacturers lies in creating models that launch with both strong appeal and high quality, which ultimately lead to improved sales through greater customer loyalty and advocacy."
 
Sargent points out that vehicle models achieving high APEAL scores in the past have been shown to benefit from faster sales, less need for cash incentives and higher profit margins on each vehicle sold.
 
Emphasis On Fuel Economy

The 2009 average APEAL score for all models also improved considerably -- to 779 from 770 in 2008 on a 1,000-point scale, driven primarily by increased owner satisfaction with fuel economy, J. D. Power concluded.

J.D. Power noted car buyers switched to more fuel-efficient models in the 2009 APEAL study. More than a half of the vehicles included in the study are powered by four-cylinder engines, compared with 39 percent in 2008.

"Although lower fuel prices and the switch to smaller vehicles have undoubtedly helped, there are also many individual vehicles that have made strong improvements in fuel economy ratings," said Sargent. "For example, the Ford F-150, Cadillac Escalade, Volkswagen Jetta and redesigned Dodge Ram have all made major strides in owner satisfaction with fuel economy through the introduction of more efficient powertrains."

Domestic-Import Gap Narrows

The overall gap in APEAL scores between domestic and import models has narrowed considerably during the past several years and is just five index points in 2009, compared with 15 points in 2008 and 27 points in 2007, J. D. Power noted.

Among premium models, import nameplates retain a slight edge, while among non-premium models, domestic brands have a similar edge.

Domestic brands comprised the four most-improved nameplates. Dodge posts the largest improvement, followed by Pontiac, Buick and Cadillac, respectively.  In addition, the three most-improved models are from domestic manufacturers, including the Dodge Ram, Buick Lucerne and Ford F-150.
 
Individual Accolades
 
Porsche is the highest-ranking nameplate in APEAL for a fifth consecutive year.

Volkswagen captures four segment-level awards -- more than any other vehicle nameplate in 2009 -- for the CC, GTI, Passat and Tiguan.

Ford, Honda, Mercedes-Benz and Nissan each garner two awards.

Ford received model-level awards for the F-150 and, in a tie, with its own Flex.

Honda models receiving awards are the Odyssey and Ridgeline. Both took the top spots in their categories for the fifth consecutive year.

Mercedes-Benz earned awards for the S-Class for a third consecutive year and SLK-Class. The S-Class achieves the highest APEAL score of any model in the industry.

Nissan receives awards for the Armada and Maxima. 
 
Also receiving awards are the Chevrolet Avalanche (for a second consecutive year), in a tie; Dodge Challenger, Hyundai Genesis, Mini Cooper (for a second consecutive year); Porsche Cayenne (for a second consecutive year); and smart fortwo.

The Ford F-150 and Honda Ridgeline are the only two models to rank highest in their respective segments in both the 2009 APEAL Study and 2009 Initial Quality Study (IQS) released in June.

APEAL Quirks

Some quirky things popped up in the APEAL study:

- Subaru ranked third from the bottom even though it has defied the gravitational pull of the industry's sales decline, thanks largely to the Subaru Forester. In fact, Edmunds.com's analysis shows it lost the smallest percentage of sales in the first half of the year at 0.8 percent.

- Ditto for Kia and Hyundai. Both have been bucking the industry's huge sales decline and have been the biggest gainers of market share during the first half, Edmunds.com's calculations. APEAL did name the Hyundai Genesis, the car helping to drive Hyundai's advance, a segment winner.

- Providing an argument to keeping the soon-to-be-defunct Pontiac G8 alive perhaps as the Chevrolet Caprice is the G8 being named one of the three most appealing vehicles in the large car category of the APEAL study.

- Daimler's smart brand performed well below industry average in APEAL, yet the smart fortwo was the highest ranked subcompact car.

- Jeep, considered the crown jewel of Chrysler and often cited as the only thing worth saving from the automaker, ranked second to last.

- Not quirky was the fact that Suzuki ranked dead-last in APEAL and has seen sales decline in the first-half nearly double the industry average.

Study Details

The APEAL Study examines how gratifying a new vehicle is to own and drive, based on owner evaluations of more than 90 vehicle attributes.  The 2009 APEAL Study is based on responses gathered between February and May 2009 from more than 80,900 purchasers and lessees of new 2009 model-year cars and trucks who were surveyed after the first 90 days of ownership.

Photo by manufacturers

1 - Volkswagen captured four top segment spots with the Volkswagen CC taking one of them.

2 - The Dodge Ram was among the most-improved in the 2009 APEAL. 

3 - The Mercedes-Benz S-Class earned the highest APEAL score of any model.

Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:07 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | Seed Newsvine

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