Lexus tops customer satisfaction survey

LEXUS has topped the 2005 JD Power and Associates/What Car? magazine Car Customer Satisfaction Index Study.

While the Toyota luxury brand was named by customers as the most satisfying brand to own for the fifth consecutive year, Mini emerged the most improved brand.

Announced in London on April 14, the results saw Lexus score 848 index points (out of a possible 1000) to oust surprise runner-up, VW’s Czech brand Skoda (847).

Third was Honda on 843, with a 14-point increase over its 2004 result of fifth.

Central to its success was Jazz, which topped the model rankings for the second year running, ahead of three other Honda models in the top 20 (Civic, CR-V and Accord).

Lexus’ IS200/300 was second in the 124-strong model ranking, ahead of Toyota’s Yaris (Echo).

Fourth overall was Toyota (835), ahead of BMW (829) and Mini (821), which was included for the second year and improved 19 points for sixth place.

Rounding out the top ten makers were Mazda and Volvo (both on 817), Audi (810) and Saab (808).

Also scoring more than the industry average of 786 points to rate in the top half of the survey were Jaguar, Daihatsu, Subaru, Nissan, Hyundai, Volkswagen and Ford.

Failing to make the top half, in order, were: Mitsubishi, Suzuki, Vauxhall, Mercedes-Benz, Seat, Daewoo, Renault, Kia, Citroen, Chrysler, MG Rover, Land Rover, Peugeot, Fiat and last-placed Alfa Romeo.

Jeep, Porsche, Proton and Smart were included but not ranked due to their small sample sizes.

Based on the evaluations of their vehicles and selling dealer by more than 25,000 What Car? readers who have owned their vehicles for an average of two years, the report covered 77 attributes grouped into four main segments.

They are: quality/reliability (30% weighting), vehicle performance, design, comfort and features (28%), dealer service satisfaction (22%) and fuel consumption, insurance and service/repair costs (19%).

"While Lexus still leads, other brands are improving quickly, and many of the best performances this year are achieved by models from brands such as Honda, Toyota, Skoda, Mini and Kia," said JD Power executive director of European operations Dave Sargent.