The fuel vehicle industry customer satisfaction Index has reached a record high level for the third time

The Quality Association released the evaluation results of the fuel vehicle industry customer satisfaction index (CACSI) in Beijing.

The fuel vehicle industry customer satisfaction index (CACSI) is 80 points (out of 100 points), an increase of 1 point year-on-year, reaching a historically high level for the third time, the first two times were in 2012 and 2019.

Li Gaoshuai, deputy secretary-general of the Quality Association, said that although the entire industry is facing many difficulties such as transformation and change, normalization of epidemic prevention and control, and chip shortages, fierce market competition has prompted automobile companies to pay more attention to quality improvement and technology upgrades. At present, automobile products and services have achieved outstanding results in meeting user needs. Looking at the world, the satisfaction level of the automobile industry is higher than that of the United States (78 points) and Southeast Asia (76 points).

The improvement of perceived quality has led to a “double increase” in satisfaction and loyalty. In 2021, perceived quality increased by 0.7 points year-on-year. Fully meeting the quality needs of young users has narrowed the gap between the actual quality and expected quality of the entire industry, which is also a key factor in promoting satisfaction. Under the premise of quality improvement, the cost-effectiveness of automobiles is more obvious, and the perceived value continues to improve, an increase of 0.9 points year-on-year.

The improvement of quality reliability is the main reason for the improvement of perceived quality. The satisfaction with automobile quality and reliability is 79.9 points, a high level in the past nine years, an increase of 1.2 points year-on-year, and the satisfaction with the quality and reliability of the nine major systems of automobiles has improved. In 2021, the number of failures per 100 new cars in the automobile industry was 94, a decrease of 5 times year-on-year, including a decrease of 3 times for the engine system, 2 times for air conditioning, and 1 time for configuration and control equipment.

The market competitiveness of independent brands has been further enhanced. In 2021, the satisfaction of independent brands was 78 points, a gap of 2 points with joint venture brands. The data shows that the gap between the product quality, brand image, sales service, and perceived value of independent brands and joint ventures has further narrowed. Evaluation data in recent years show that independent brands such as Geely, Changan, Wuling, Great Wall, SAIC, GAC, and Hongqi have a good reputation. Among them, the number of models that have won “good market satisfaction (CACSI)” is also increasing.

German and American brands have obvious advantages in satisfaction. Among joint venture brands, the satisfaction score of German brands is 81 points, the same as last year. The satisfaction score of American brands is 80 points, an increase of 1 point year-on-year. Japanese brands scored 79 points in satisfaction, down 1 point year-on-year. Korean brands scored 78 points in satisfaction, the same as last year.

Li Gaoshuai, deputy secretary-general of the Quality Association, pointed out that in the past two years, the market share of American brands has continued to increase. The market performance of American brands shows the significance of improving quality and satisfaction and maintaining a high user reputation in improving the competitiveness of the automobile market. Automobile companies should pay attention to studying user needs, effectively solving user pain points, and improving quality from the perspective of full life cycle customer experience management.

The focus of quality reliability is to reduce the failure rate of systems such as body appearance, interior, driving steering and braking, engine, configuration and control equipment. It is urgent to reduce the following faults (problems): heavy interior odor, loud tire noise during driving, loud wind noise, loud engine noise/noise, excessive fuel consumption, slow acceleration response/weakness, abnormal brake noise, paint easy to peel/stain, front wiper not clean, abnormal noise, etc.

Performance design should focus on improving the performance design level of factors such as seats, audio entertainment navigation system and air conditioning. Automobile companies urgently need to improve the performance design level of factors such as “ease of rear seat adjustment”, “seat material”, “accurate, sensitive and highly intelligent built-in voice interaction”, “smell in the car”, “quiet effect” and “air conditioning air purification effect”. The user satisfaction of performance design in the automobile industry is 77.6 points, down 0.4 points year-on-year. Among the user evaluations of the nine factors of performance design, the audio entertainment navigation system has been a weak point over the years, among which “voice interaction” has become one of the ten most dissatisfied factors for users.

After-sales service should pay attention to the needs of young users and users in third- and fourth-tier cities. The user satisfaction of after-sales service in the fuel automobile industry is 75 points, which is at a relatively low level in the past 15 years. Among them, the user satisfaction of post-95s is 73 points, which is 3 points lower than that of post-80s and post-70s. The after-sales service satisfaction in third- and fourth-tier cities is 74 points, which is significantly worse than that in first- and second-tier cities. The data shows that the service pain points of the entire industry are still focused on efficiency and service quality, and users in third- and fourth-tier cities pay more attention to the improvement of service facilities and environment.

Sales service quality should pay attention to the use of digitalization to improve online service capabilities and improve the service experience of traditional links. In 2021, the online service score increased by 3% year-on-year, but the online service score is still low, and the online service capabilities need to be further improved to meet the personalized needs of young users for online services. The pain points of sales services are key service links such as the delivery process, bargaining and signing of written documents, service facilities and environment. Digitalization is a means, and its purpose is to reorganize the service process and improve and upgrade the experience of traditional service links.

It is also understood that since 2002, the Quality Association has organized and carried out the Automobile Industry User Satisfaction (CACSI) evaluation for 20 consecutive years, and regularly released the evaluation results to the society every year. In order to strengthen the national benchmarking of quality evaluation, further improve the scientificity and influence of the evaluation, and help automobile products and brands “go global”, the Quality Association will implement the user satisfaction evaluation of the national automobile market from 2021 and release the results of the Southeast Asian Automobile User Satisfaction Evaluation (SEACSI).

The evaluation results show that the main indicators of Southeast Asian automobile user satisfaction are significantly disadvantaged. In 2021, the Southeast Asian automobile industry user satisfaction index was 76 points, 4 points lower than that of my country. In 2021, the perceived quality score of Southeast Asian cars was 2.4 points lower than that of my country, mainly because the gap between the quality reliability satisfaction and my country is huge.

The evaluation data also shows that the feelings and preferences of Southeast Asian users are quite different from those of Chinese users. Southeast Asian users are satisfied with pickup trucks, followed by SUVs, and the satisfaction with sedans is low. The user satisfaction of sedans is comparable to that of SUVs, but both are higher than that of MPVs. In terms of quality reliability evaluation, Southeast Asian users are satisfied with the quality reliability of the exterior and interior of the car body, while in the Chinese market, the failure rate of these two systems is relatively high, and the reliability satisfaction level is also relatively low. The fault problems complained by Southeast Asian users are mainly concentrated in seats and air conditioning, which is also quite different from my country. In addition, Southeast Asian users pay more attention to referring to the information provided by car magazines and television when buying cars, and prefer diversified brand elements.

The CACSI evaluation objects in 2021 are 186 brands with large sales, involving 40 automobile manufacturers and 49 automobile brands. The survey covers 86 major cities in the five major market regions of the east, south, west, north and central. The survey was conducted from May 1 to August 30, 2021, with face-to-face interviews and online surveys, and a total of 25,267 valid samples were collected. The evaluation index system is constructed based on five dimensions: overall satisfaction evaluation, performance design evaluation, quality reliability evaluation, after-sales service evaluation, and sales service evaluation. The survey was organized and implemented by China Quality Evaluation Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd.