Auto buyers in Mexico gave GMC top marks for satisfactory dealership salespeople, environment, and sales process in just-released research from data analytics firm J.D. Power, coming in ahead of three other brands in the Premium segment.
This represents an enormous turnaround from the performance of GMC in the 2023 Sales Satisfaction Index study when it was at the bottom of the rankings in the annual J.D. Power Mexico Sales Satisfaction Index (SSI) Study.
GMC, which is considered a premium vehicle brand in Mexico, scored 912 points out of a possible 1,000 for customer satisfaction. BMW came in second in the rankings with 902 points, with an average SSI rating of 896 out of 1,000 points for the segment. Below average was Mercedes-Benz at 893 points and Audi at 883 points.
Notably, the study does not look at buyer satisfaction with a brand’s vehicles but with the buying process at dealerships, as noted above. The numerical score is made up of six customer ratings on different aspects of the business. The most important factors are dealership employees (weighted to 28 percent of the score) and delivery process (21 percent).
The other four factors include satisfaction with the dealership facility (accounting for 20 percent of the score), the process of reaching a deal (12 percent), ease of paperwork (13 percent), and the usefulness of the brand website (5 percent).
While the brand’s website was given low weight in the scores, “The make-or-break factor is how effectively the technology is used to facilitate the purchase process,” per J.D. Power Mexico senior director Gerardo Gomez. Expanding on the theme, he added that the “ability to seamlessly integrate technology throughout the experience is the most influential key performance indicator of sales satisfaction.”
The director also said that “having test-drive vehicles available is important to shoppers,” even if the buyer does not actually take one of the vehicles for a spin. Gomez observed that “premium brands are better at doing this than mass-market brands,” indirectly indicating one of the likely reasons for the high GMC score and the much higher satisfaction with premium brands versus mass-market brands.
GMC was not the only General Motors to sharply improve its performance in the study year-over-year. Chevy also boosted its rating, going from a below-average 872 points last year (versus a Mass Market segment average of 874) to an 887-point fourth-place position this year. In 2024, only Ford, SEAT, and Toyota beat Chevy, which was also significantly above the mass market average of 872 points.
Subscribe to GM Authority for more GM Mexico news, GMC news, GM business news, and around-the-clock GM news coverage.
No Comments yet