Maruti on top in JD Power's customer satisfaction survey

This is the fourth consecutive time the company has been ranked number one by the global market research firm, thereby becoming the only car maker in the world to achieve this feat.

JP Power Asia Pacific's annual India customer satisfaction index (CSI) study, now in its seventh year, identified five factors that measure customer satisfaction with dealership services in the country, which are problems experienced, service advisor, service performance, service timing and facility appearence, in their order of importance.

As per a JD Power statement issued here today, Maruti Udyog topped the CSI study for the fourth consecutive year.

Hyundai Motor India was ranked second in the study followed by Honda Siel Cars, Hindustan Motors/Mitsubishi, Toyota Kirloskar, Ford, Tata Motors, General Motors, Fiat India and Mahindra & Mahindra.

Significantly, Fiat India has been ranked as the most improved brand in the 2003 study, with significant improvement in all five factors and displayed the greatest year-over-year improvement ever recorded in the CSI study.

Tata Motors also posted significant gains and improved its score and ranking consistently over the past three years, JD Power said in the statement.

The study was based on evaluations from 3,295 individual vehicle owners surveyed at 12 to 18 months of vehicle ownership and included customers who purchased their vehicles between December 2001 and August 2002.

JD Power found out that for nine out of 10 makes ranked, customers reported a greater number of problems in 2003. But 57 per cent of Maruti customers reported no repair problems.

JD Power Asia Pacific's country manager Mohit Arora said, "Maruti demonstrates a well-rounded performance, with industry-best scores on all five factors that determine service satisfaction."

Arora said that as much as 94 per cent of Maruti owners felt that the dealership valued their service business""a figure higher than for any other manufacturer.

Also, nearly 70 per cent of all Maruti customers indicated that they would definitely recommend and return to their servicing dealership.

The study found that fuel was the largest component of cost per kilometre of operation, accounting for 90 per cent of operating costs, followed by repair and maintenance and tyres.

Tata's compact car Indica was found to be the best in terms of operating costs followed by Toyota's multi-purpose vehicle Qualis.

Maruti Udyog managing director Jagdish Khattar said: "We are delighted with the faith customers have reposed in Maruti, its products and services. Scoring a double hat-trick, especially by a market leader with mass customer base, in the prestigious JD Power Customer Satisfaction survey is surely unprecedented. The achievement makes our task even more challenging and we look forward to living up to our customer's enhanced expectation and confidence."