Strategic Vision has been tracking ‘total quality’ among vehicle models since 1995, ranking OEMs on ‘things gone wrong’ and ‘things gone right’. The latest Total Quality Impact (TQI) study is based on results from the New Vehicle Experience Study surveying over 39,000 new vehicle buyers who purchased between July and December 2015 after the first 90 days of ownership.
Researchers look at the number of problems reported by consumers, the severity of problems reported and the severity of problems not adequately repaired by the dealership. While these figures may seem straightforward, it is important to remember that they are always the reflection of individual drivers and their own perceptions – what one buyer may overlook, another will find significant and report.
Domestics outpace foreign brands
The latest report shows a dominance of domestic brands, as Ford, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, General Motors and Tesla won more Total Quality Awards than their foreign competitors – a total of 16 winning vehicles, compared to 15 winning models from abroad. While the margin was close, the victory was a significant one. American manufacturers lagged behind their overseas rivals for nearly a decade but have now overtaken them in the study twice in the last four years. Their success, according to Christopher Chaney, Senior Vice President at Strategic Vision, lies partly in their technological prowess.
“First, domestics (and others) tightened the traditional quality race. In other words, they started building cars that didn’t have a lot of problems, were solid and held up fairly well. Then domestics seem to be willing to take a chance in providing innovation,” he told Automotive World. The move wasn’t without its risks, and some of the early glitches proved very problematic, such as the first generation Ford Sync. Chaney conceded that “some even stumbled a little in being bold about it, but they put their foot in the waters of innovation more than imports. Ultimately, some started to get it right and really impacted customers. America has always been a technological leader in the world, and this gave domestics a leg up – after years of struggling to build cars that lasted more than a 100,000 miles without falling apart. Domestics are building high traditional quality cars that are starting to provide meaningful innovation that people want.”
More than counting problems
Quality perceptions are impacted by many things. “We’ve always known the customer thinks of quality being much more than counting problems,” Chaney added. A broken windshield wiper blade and a blown transmission, for example, are not the same. The way in which a manufacturer responds to a problem is also important. For instance, some feedback suggests that small problems which are corrected in a superior manner, touching the owner in an emotional way, can yield to a higher rating by the customer. Chaney likens this to an example of a restaurant meal that is served cold, but followed by a sincere apology, a quickly warmed dinner, and a significant discount as a token of apology. In the end, the response “makes the customer rave with advocacy to friends,” he pointed out.
During the late 2000s through to recent times, it became increasingly apparent that most manufacturers were building generally high quality cars. “When measuring problems only in terms of things gone wrong, the differences were becoming statistically insignificant – less than .5 problems between the best and worst brand,” Chaney pointed out. “It had become essentially like saying the horse that wins the Kentucky Derby is fast, and the one that crosses the line a few hundredths of seconds later in fifth place is ‘slow’. Thus, ‘true innovation’ has become the new influencer towards Quality.”
True Innovation
By ‘True Innovation’ Chaney means innovation that is rich, impactful, intuitive and meaningful. Strategic Vision’s Chief Executive J. Susan Johnson coined the phrase over a decade ago. “Innovation that is not this is essentially fancy junk that just causes grief in a person’s life, which they will hate (e.g. Bluetooth that is impossible to connect to or a Navigation system that requires Space Shuttle level astronaut training to master, etc.),” he added. “So the new race for Quality still includes getting the basics right (which nearly all OEMs are doing well), but is instead ‘True Innovation’.”
As an example, he compares the Blackberry phone with Apple’s iPhone. While the latter had a shorter battery life, lower volume speaker, and more things to learn about, it offered True Innovation that “absolutely mesmerised users – the beautiful screen, the touch interface, the simple ‘pinch to zoom’ that looked magical, music, entertainment, etc, things that were elegant, intuitive, meaning and impactful. There were so many things that went all so right that customers didn’t care about the fact it actually had more ‘simple problems’ than Blackberry,” said Chaney. “And look where we are now with iPhone compared to Blackberry? True Innovation essentially stormed the industry and left traditional high quality cell phones in the dust.”
To some extent, this new working definition of quality further sets apart the luxury brands from the mass market ones, but there is a counter force at work. “Many mass market vehicles can be priced into the entry level price for several luxury brands. For instance, a person could purchase a Honda Accord Touring, loaded for about US$36,000-US$38,000, or a BMW 3 Series, starting for about US$34,000, etc. There is more of this pricing egress than ever and thus you can find very impactful technology on many levels of vehicles now. It’s all about providing the customer with the ‘right’ (True) innovation,” he explained.
The ones to watch
The chart below shows the latest TQA winners in their respective segments.
While Tesla’s Model S sedan has the distinction of the overall best model, the company has had a lot more teething problems with its Model X SUV. Tesla’s Chief Executive Elon Musk has admitted to hubris with its development and the technology overload, but that doesn’t necessarily bode ill for its success. In fact, Chaney expects to see this model make an appearance among the TQA winners before long, though he adds that “it depends again on the impact of True Innovation. So far, it appears as if Tesla maybe starting off like the 2007 iPhone but with one caveat – competitors learn and act much more quickly now. Tesla will not find others sleeping at the wheel as long.”
Looking ahead, he expects that those companies that can understand and measure a metric like True Innovation will fare the best against new players such as Tesla. “You’re currently going to see a lot of hit and miss, let’s see what innovation sticks against the wall type features come out, which will provide customers grief, but those who can stay the track of True Innovation, or who simply get lucky with the right, intuitive and impactful innovation will win,” he said.
As for other brands with promise, Chaney highlights Ford, Volvo, Kia and Hyundai. “Ford in particular is pressing hard and investing towards understanding and positioning towards true mobility, and searching for what will be meaningful to people in the future,” observed Chaney. “There are many rumours about Apple and others who want to take advantage of the True Innovation gap that offer opportunity to further define quality in the transportation world, now that brakes no longer squeak and everybody’s windows are not rattling!”
