AUTOMOTIVE ADVERTISING & MARKETING

Vehicle Satisfaction Awards

2014 Vehicle Satisfaction Awards Are Out

JKRAdvertising / Auto Industry in the News /

June 16, 2014

The 18th Annual Vehicle Satisfaction Awards have been handed out, and among the big winners are Lincoln and GMC, voted the two highest-rated brands. (Lincoln was tops in the premium category, while GMC took home top honors in the “Popular Brand” category. Meanwhile, the Mercedes-Benz S-Class posted the best overall score.

The Vehicle Satisfaction Awards are the work of vehicle consulting form AutoPacific, located in Tustin, California with a second office in Detroit. These awards identify the most satisfying vehicles based on responses from more than 92,000 new vehicle owners.

Vehicle Satisfaction Awards Help Consumers

For the 2014 model year alone, there are 32 brands – and 274 vehicles – from which to choose. These awards help consumers make more informed decisions on what new vehicles to purchase, letting them know which ones are at the top of the categories they are considering.

What differentiates the AutoPacific Vehicle Satisfaction Awards from others is that, while others highlight a car’s reliability or quality, the lone benchmark for AutoPacific is the owner’s complete satisfaction with their cars. A criteria checklist of approximately 50 items is used to objectively measure the overall ownership experience. These include everything from interior comfort and convenience to fuel economy and performance.

Lincoln jumped from sixth last year to first this year, while GMC supplanted fellow GM brand Buick as the top dog in 2014.

Vehicle Satisfaction Award Winners

In addition to the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, other individual awards were given to:

Luxury Midsize Car: Lincoln MKZ

Large Car: Chevrolet Impala

Midsize Car: Kia Optima

Compact Car: Kia Soul

Sports Car: Chevrolet Corvette

Heavy Duty Pickup: Ford F-Series Super Duty

Light Duty Pickup: GMC Sierra

Midsize SUV: Jeep Grand Cherokee

Large Crossover SUV: GMC Acadia

Midsize Crossover SUV: Nissan Rogue

Compact Crossover SUV: Hyundai Tucson

Minivan: Honda Odyssey

The 2014 results are a bit more diverse than they have been in recent years. Chevrolet took home the most awards with four; Lincoln collected three; and Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Kia and GMC each won two.

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Post-Pandemic Dealer Gross Profits are Down – But They Don’t Have to Stay There!
March 13, 2024
It is no secret that dealer gross profits per vehicle are down sharply in the post-COVID automotive world. According to a recent article in Automotive News, gross profits of the six largest publicly traded dealership groups plunged significantly from Q4 2022 to Q4 2023. One of them was actually down 35% per vehicle!

The article explains: High interest rates, more expensive vehicles and a steadier post-pandemic supply chain continue to soften demand and bring it closer to pre-pandemic levels. Still, new-car buying has remained strong overall …

This means that, while sales volume is similar, overall bottom lines are lower for many dealers due to the reduced gross profits. What about your dealership?

Being Realistic
It’s time to turn the page! The time for dealers to simply be order takers for people willing to pay MSRP for a vehicle (and in some cases more) has passed and dealers have to work hard once again to achieve acceptable gross profits.

Selling a high volume of cars doesn’t control gross profits, no matter how much you wish this was the case. Correct processes and menu pricing – and strict adherence to them – do!

What kind of processes?
∙ Slow down the transaction! Your sales staff has to once again sell the customer on the features and benefits of every new and pre-owned vehicle on your lot.

∙ Your salespeople and managers should devalue the customers’ trade-in value (politely, of course) as much as possible. After all, if the customer expects you to lower your price, shouldn’t you be able to do the same on their trade? Remember, you’ll have to fix it up, put your name on it and resell it to someone else with all the tenacity you would a brand-new car. So make sure you buy it right … because the profit is made when you buy it, not when you sell it!

∙ To that end, management should be ready and willing to leave the desk and do thorough walk-arounds on each trade to ensure the best outcome for the dealership.

The Cure for Low Gross Profits
If you are like a lot of dealers these days, you could use some good news. Here it is: while you may not have the capability to achieve profit margins similar to those you enjoyed during the pandemic, they could likely be improved. JKR’s clients enjoy the benefit of attracting not only more customers, but better ones, too!

If meeting and exceeding your sales goals (and increasing gross profits at the same time) sounds great to you, you need to call us. Don’t settle for reduced gross profits when help is out there to get you closer to where you’d like to be.

Want to know how we do it? Reach out to Senior Partner Richard Brauns (407) 701-4233 or Partner/Vice President Jon Albert (407) 718-2494 today.

JKR Automotive Advertising: We Move Cars.

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