Cadillac tops brand satisfaction survey for the second year running

[Z-06]

[source: Motor Authority]

Cadillac tops brand satisfaction survey for the second year running

In today's competitive market building reliable cars that customers are satisfied with is the key to improving sales and maintaining market share. A number of companies conduct vehicle satisfaction surveys to offer consumers a comparison between brands and specific models, and one of the most influential is California's AutoPacific, which has just released its list of 2009's most satisfying vehicles.

Taking out the title for the 'Highest Satisfaction Brand' was Cadillac, which won the same award last year. Despite the financial turmoil surrounding its parent company General Motors, there appeared to be no affect on customer impressions of Cadillac vehicles after long term use, at least in this round of testing.

While Cadillac stayed in the same position it achieved last year, Hyundai managed to improve the most by jumping 11 positions in the overall brand satisfaction rankings. Hyundai also managed to take out two vehicle-specific awards for the Genesis and Sonata sedans, which were reportedly the most satisfying cars in the 'Aspirational Luxury Car' and 'Premium Mid-Size' segments, respectively.

Meanwhile, the vehicle registering highest overall satisfaction in 2009 was the Lexus LS luxury saloon. The LS scored 99 points above the industry average to place first among all 2009-model year vehicles in AutoPacific's survey of more than 25,000 new vehicle owners and lessees. The truck or SUV with the highest overall satisfaction score was the Cadillac Escalade.

In terms of its methodology, the survey was given to buyers of new vehicles that were purchased or leased during the fourth quarter of 2008, a period when the public was just realizing that a major economic downturn was occurring. Incidentally, AutoPacific also recently released its list of 'Most Recommended' brands and vehicles, which saw Porsche take home the title of most recommended brand in the country by owners and Infiniti's G37 take home the gong for an individual model.

The full list of individual segment winners for the most satisfying vehicles can be found below:

Passenger Cars:

Premium Luxury Car - Lexus LS

Aspirational Luxury Car - Hyundai Genesis

Luxury Large Car - Lincoln Town Car

Luxury Mid-Size Car - Lexus ES

Premium Mid-Size Car - Hyundai Sonata

Mid-Size Car - Ford Fusion

Image Compact Car - Toyota Prius

Compact Car - Mitsubishi Lancer

Economy Car - Honda Fit

Sports Car - Porsche 911

Sporty Car - Scion tC

Light trucks:

Large Pickup - Dodge Ram 1500

Compact Pickup - Ford Explorer Sport Trac

Luxury Sport Utility - Cadillac Escalade

Large Sport Utility - Chevrolet Tahoe

Premium Mid-Size Sport Utility - Ford Explorer

Mid-Size Sport Utility - Jeep Liberty

Luxury Crossover SUV - Land Rover LR2

Large Crossover SUV - Mazda CX-9

Premium Mid-Size Crossover SUV - Toyota Venza

Mid-Size Crossover SUV - Volkswagen Tiguan

Compact Crossover SUV - Kia Sportage

Minivan - Toyota Sienna

[David]

Weird and I question the value of this award when the only caddilac listed is the escallade. I would have thought we would have also seen the CTS.

[regfootball]

people are losing love for toyota and are using hyundai as a surrogate.

[PurdueGuy]

Luxury Large Car - Lincoln Town Car

This make anyone else chuckle? Have they even updated the Town Car within the last 5 years in any meaningful way? Seems like a "wins because there's little to no competition" award...