Nel 1921 Henry Ford dette la possibilita' ad ogni americano di avere una macchina ad un prezzo contenuto. Dopo la Seconda Guerra Mondiale la filosofia di produzione delle case automobilistiche americane e' mutata radicalmente. L'auto doveva essere 'status symbol' e rispondere alle esigenze della moda. I modelli, sempre piu' numerosi delle grandi case, dovevano essere cambiati ogni quattro anni. Ma in genere si trattava di rinnovamenti cosmetici perche' le auto continuavano ad essere prodotte con telai, motori, pneumatici vecchi di decenni quanto a progettazione. Mentre in Europa la rivoluzione di Citroen, Mercedes, Jaguar, Michelin, Bosh apriva nuovi scenari nella produzione di veicoli a motore. Una recente indagine di J.D. Power ha messo in evidenza che i gusti e le esigenze del consumatore americano stanno rapidamente cambiando. La motivazione all'acquisto non e' data dalle suggestioni di marketing, ma dalla preferenza data a quei prodotti che hanno un miglior rapporto qualita'-prezzo. Nonostante Buick e Jaguar abbiano conquistato ora il primo posto nella classifica della qualita', la stragrande maggioranza degli americani e' convinta che solo alcune case asiatiche sono in grado di proporre auto che non richiedano frequenti riparazioni. Sara' dura per i tre Big di Detroit recuperare un'immagine perduta negli ultimi decenni.
Per il GR2
Oscar Bartoli
Washington DC
the industry average for problems per 100 vehicles in J.D. Power & Associates' 2009 Vehicle Dependability Study, which was released last week. Buick tied with Jaguar for No. 1 overall, just ahead of Lexus and Toyota.
The bad news for Detroit: Models from Toyota Motor Corp.'s Toyota, Lexus and Scion brands dominate the survey when you look at the best-performing models in specific market segments. All together, Toyota models placed first, or tied for first, in six of 11 car categories and four of eight truck segments, including large pickups and midsize crossover wagons.
Modern cars and trucks are, on the whole, remarkably durable pieces of hardware, and hard times are pushing more consumers to hang on to vehicles longer. The average age of a car at trade-in so far this year is 73 months -- more than six years old -- compared to 65 months in 2006, before the economy started to tilt, according to J.D. Power, a market-research arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.
"In the recent past, when the industry was selling 16 million to 17 million [cars and trucks a year], people were replacing cars because they wanted to, not because they needed to," says David Sargent, Power's vice president for automotive research. But now, with credit tight and job anxiety high, "they have to hold on to a vehicle, and they can."
The reliability of older vehicles as measured in Power's surveys has improved 5% to 10% a year over the past 19 years, Mr. Sargent says. In the latest survey, Power customers reported an average of 170 problems per 100 three-year-old vehicles. That's fewer than two problems per car -- and it's fewer problems than owners of many models reported in Power's 1998 survey of problems with brand-new cars three months off the lot.
At the same time, consumers aren't that forgiving of car companies and brands that don't deliver long-term reliability.
Return Buyers
When Power asked customers if they would buy the same make of car again, 46% of those whose vehicles caused them no trouble in the past year said yes, they'd buy that make again. The repurchase vote falls to 37% for vehicles that caused one significant problem, and 19% for vehicles that went to the shop five times in a year, Mr. Sargent says.
The strong performances of Buick, Cadillac, Chrysler and Ford Motor Co.'s three main brands -- Ford, Lincoln and Mercury -- in the Power dependability study suggest that blanket condemnation of Detroit brands for poor quality isn't justified by the experiences of people who drive vehicles from those brands and answer Power's questionnaires.
But the Power survey also suggests that thinning out brand lineups -- which the Detroit car makers say they will do as part of their restructuring efforts -- will pay off. Buick and Jaguar, the co-champions, have axed models that inflated their sales volumes but also dragged down their reliability scores.
"One of the ways to perform well is to have a great deal of consistency between models, and the fewer models you have, the easier that is," Mr. Sargent says.
Henry Ford would approve.
No comments:
Post a Comment