GM & Nissan tops in quality survey- BMW BEST nameplate

[bmw046series]

Nissan, GM tops in quality survey
Owners praise power, styling

DETROIT - Nissan Motor Co. and General Motors Corp. were the top performers in a new survey of vehicle quality, with satisfied owners praising power and styling.

BMW was the highest-scoring individual nameplate in the survey by Strategic Vision Inc., a San Diego-based marketing research firm. The tenth annual survey, which was released Monday, questioned around 40,000 owners of 2004 vehicles between October and November. The survey asked owners about their emotional response to vehicles as well as any problems they have experienced.

Six GM vehicles got top ratings in the survey’s 20 vehicle categories, the highest number of any automaker.

The Pontiac G6 was the top mid-size car, while the Buick Rainier was the top mid-size sport utility vehicle and the GMC Sierra was the top heavy-duty pickup. The Cadillac Escalade and the Hummer H2 tied with Land Rover’s Range Rover in the luxury SUV category, while the Chevrolet Corvette was tops among luxury specialty cars.

The ranking was news for GM, which saw its U.S. vehicle sales fall 7.7 percent in the first four months of this year. Strategic Vision said GM needs its top-selling vehicles, such as the Chevrolet Silverado pickup and Impala sedan, to get quality marks as high as specialty vehicles like the Corvette and the H2.

Nissan delivered five first-place winners and got the highest overall quality scores. The Nissan Maxima sedan tied with the Ford Five Hundred among large cars, while the Nissan Titan was the top full-size pickup. The Nissan Murano was the top crossover, the Nissan Armada was the top large SUV and the Infiniti FX35 was the top near-luxury SUV.

Strategic Vision said Nissan owners repeatedly said their vehicles gave them feelings of power, individuality, excitement and fun. Nissan’s sales had a 27 percent increase in the first four months of this year.

Strategic Vision also noted that two pickups from Japanese manufacturers — the Toyota Tacoma and the Nissan Titan — did best in the compact and full-size pickup categories.



AHH... All these surveys just contradict each other, its sickening.

 

[Tom]

Buick Rainier? I could count on one hand the number of times I saw this thing on the road in 2004.

 

[MrElussive]

I don't believe this at all. Nissan and GM getting praised for quality? No way.

 

[Kirby]

Here is another write up on the same survey:

General Motors Corp. and Hyundai posted big scores on a survey of consumer perceptions of vehicles conducted by a California research firm.

Strategic Vision Inc. of San Diego reported Monday that GM vehicles led or tied for the lead in 11 of 19 segments in the firm's 2004 Total Quality Index, which has steadily gained credibility as an indicator of what consumers think of a new vehicle.

Chevrolet led the way with three wins and one tie, followed by Cadillac, which had two wins and tie. Saturn and Buick products also did well on the study.

"GM has been saying for some time that it's improving its products so they should be proud that many of their buyers agree. The challenge will be to continue this momentum and regain the trust, and then the hearts and minds of the U.S. car and truck buyer," said Daniel Gorrell, Strategic Vision vice president.

The highest scoring model this year was the Cadillac XLR, Gorrell said. "Buyers loved its power, style, craftsmanship and handling, and found it well above the segment in innovation and quietness. It delivered a strong sense of esteem in being fun to drive, exciting and making its owners proud."

GM also scored well on the J.D. Power & Associates Initial Quality Survey, which was released earlier this month.

Strategic vision surveys about 40,000 buyers of new models to determine the buyers responses to the complete ownership experience, including buying, owning and driving their new vehicles. The calculations also include the emotional response to that experience, Gorrell said.

Gorrell said Hyundai, which also scored well on the J.D. Power survey, also did well on the Strategic Vision survey. Hyundai's Santa Fe repeated its win in the small sport utility vehicle segment and Hyundai's Elantra and Sonata were co-leaders in their segments.

"Hyundai's ascent is nothing short of amazing. We measure their products against the best in the business, and they score well. People are no longer buying their vehicles just for price or warranty," Gorrell added.

The Strategic Vision and J.D. Power, however, diverged on their evaluation of Volkswagen. In the new Strategic Vision survey, Volkswagen kept its place as the top-scoring full-line corporation, followed by Nissan, Honda and General Motors, which ranked above Toyota.

Volkswagen did not fare as well in J.D. Power's study, where it finished with a below average score.

Nissan and its luxury brand, Infiniti, also did well on the Strategic Vision survey, winning or tying for the lead in three categories. Honda had one win and one tie while the Lexus 430 was only top scorer for Toyota, which is a perennial leader in the J.D. Power Survey.

Infiniti and Mercedes-Benz were the highest scoring luxury brands, while Cadillac continued in second place, tying with Jaguar and Lexus. Mitsubishi and Dodge were the most improved brands.

"The real challenge for GM and other brands who are turning their products around is to convince potential buyers, particularly entrenched Toyota and Honda owners, to take a look," Gorrell added.

Darrel Edwards, Strategic Vision president and founder, also predicted understanding the emotions that drive purchase decisions is becoming increasingly important.

 

[bmw046series]

THAT IS THE MEDIA FOR YOU!!! I wonder why Newsweek is in trouble.

They didn't even mention BMW, and they said nothing about Merc or Infin in the other article.

 

[MrElussive]

This makes no sense. I wouldn't give any quality awards to Nissan. My whip uses cheap interior materials and it is a rattle trap. If you want a thoroughly well-built car that isn't expensive, I think Honda is the way to go.

 

[bmw046series]

That is precisely why those ratings systems mean nothing.

 

[epj3]

meh, still looks and drives like crap.