Lincoln Outpaces The Competition In Latest ACSI US Customer Satisfaction Survey

Acura, Volkswagen, Jeep, beaten to a pulp in rankings

The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) published its 2016 report on new car customer satisfaction and the results are surprising, but not for those monitoring the industry.

ACSI captures customer opinions about critical elements of the automobile experience, including driving performance (handling, drivability), dependability, exterior, (look, style), interior (features, space), vehicle safety, warranties, technology (audio, navigation, controls), comfort, gas mileage and even the brand's website. So they do a pretty thorough job to detect what car buyers really think about their own cars.

The 2016 report is based on a survey encompassing 3,776 customers who have purchased or leased a new car within the last six months to three years. It includes analysis and scores on the ACSI’s 100-point scale rating customer satisfaction with over 20 of the most popular automotive nameplates sold in the United States. According to the report, "mass-market cars have made considerable headway this year."

Whereas luxury cars have dominated the driver satisfaction rankings for years, the top tier is now evenly split between mass-market and luxury vehicles. Out of 24 automakers tracked by the ACSI, 16 improve customer satisfaction from a year ago while only 5 decline—3 of which are premium brands.

Lincoln ranks first in the car customer satisfaction survey

According to the report, Ford’s Lincoln overtakes Toyota's Lexus after jumping 5% to an ACSI score of 87. The former leader is now evenly matched with Subaru, GMC, and Nissan’s Infiniti (all 84), being also overtaken by Honda, with an 8% increase to 86 points, plus Toyota and BMW, both moving up 4% to 85 points.

Furthermore, five of the top 10 nameplates are now mass-market cars, with Honda even claiming second place. Luxury brands still dominate the top of the rankings, but mass-market cars have massively improved their customer satisfaction rankings from a year ago.

The trend can be explained by improvements in perceived quality, but also by lower prices: incentives increased by 13% during the first two quarters of 2016 to offset recall side effects.

Among the best performers are Infiniti (9% increase), Honda, GMC (8% increase), Chrysler (7%), and Chevrolet (5%). Among the worst performers are Mercedes-Benz, (-2%) and Volkswagen (-3%), the latter dealing with the consequences of the emission-cheating scandal known as Dieselgate that affected more than 500,000 diesel-powered vehicles in the United States and halted sales of new diesel vehicles until a fix is in place.

Acura managed to crash its score with -8% since last year. It's somewhat ironic, especially if we consider that Honda has an 8% increase and the Takata airbag scandal and the following recalls affected both brands at the same time.

Overall, the customer satisfaction of mass-market vehicles is on the rise. Will luxury brands manage to keep their lead? We'll see it next year.