Singapore, 28 August 2009 - Overall sales satisfaction among new-vehicle owners in Malaysia has increased from 2008 as the gap between Malaysian brands and non-national brands narrows, according to the J.D. Power Asia Pacific 2009 Malaysia Sales Satisfaction Index (SSI) StudySM released today.

Now in its seventh year, the study measures new-vehicle owner satisfaction with the sales and delivery experience and examines seven key factors that contribute to overall satisfaction. In order of importance, these factors are delivery process; delivery timing; paperwork; dealer facility; salesperson; deal and sales initiation. SSI performance is reported as an index score based on a 1,000-point scale, where a higher overall SSI score indicates greater satisfaction with the new-vehicle sales and delivery process.

Overall sales satisfaction has increased by three points from 2008 to an average of 781 in 2009. Satisfaction has increased in three of seven factors: salesperson, delivery process and delivery timing. Among these factors, delivery timing increases most notably. Satisfaction with the four remaining factors decreased, with the greatest decline occurring in the dealer facility factor.

As a whole, Malaysian national brands (Inokom, Naza, Perodua and Proton) improve by an average of six points from 2008. In contrast, the non-national brands included in the study decrease by an average of seven points, as a whole. Although national brands still trail non-national brands by 16 index points, this is considerably less than the gap observed in 2008 of 29 points. National brands overall demonstrate the greatest improvement in the delivery timing factor and have also improved considerably from 2008 in the sales initiation and delivery process factors.

Among the nine brands ranked in the study, Isuzu ranks highest in overall new-vehicle sales satisfaction with a score of 805 and performs particularly well in six of seven factors: delivery process; paperwork; dealer facility; salesperson; deal and sales initiation. Following Isuzu in the rankings are Toyota (798) and Suzuki (793). Toyota performs particularly well in the delivery timing. Also ranking above the industry average are Honda, Mitsubishi and Nissan (tied at 783 each).
 
The study finds that delivery times have shortened by 2.6 days from an average of 20.4 days in 2008 to 17.8 days in 2009. Customers who say delivery timing is “better than expected” received their vehicle in 10.5 days, on average. Meanwhile, those who say delivery timing is “worse than expected” in 2009 received their vehicles in 39.2 days, on average. This marks an improvement of 12.6 days, or nearly 24 percent, compared with 2008. In addition, the percentage of customers who report that delivery timing was “worse than expected” has decreased by three percent from 2008.

“Shortened delivery times are largely attributable to the economic downturn and reduced demand at dealerships,” said Taku Kimoto, general manager for Malaysia at J.D. Power Asia Pacific, Singapore. “In light of this, consumer expectations around delivery times are changing. Dealers and manufacturers will need to continuously improve in this area to keep pace with these expectations.”

The study also finds the overall satisfaction with delivery timing decreases as delivery times lengthen. On average, among customers who receive their vehicles in four days or less, satisfaction with delivery timing is nearly 50 points higher than average. Conversely, among customers who receive their vehicles in 32 days or more, delivery timing satisfaction is 97 points lower than average.

The study also finds that customer satisfaction with the overall purchase experience has a strong impact on dealer loyalty and advocacy. Approximately 69 percent of “delighted” customers (those providing a rating of 10 on a 10-point scale) say they “definitely would” recommend their dealer, compared to just four percent among “disappointed” customers (those providing a rating of five or less). Similarly, approximately 53 percent of “delighted” customers say they “definitely would” repurchase from the same dealer, compared with just one percent among “disappointed” customers.

The study finds that the percentage of customers who negotiate the price of their vehicle has increased by seven percent from 2008 to 72 percent in 2009. At the same time, the percentage of customers who believe that it is necessary to negotiate to obtain the lowest price and also indicate that they do not enjoy negotiating has also increased by six percent.

“Given the current economic environment, customers are becoming more price sensitive,” said Kimoto. “Although some customers are reluctant to negotiate, they feel strongly about pushing to receive lower prices.”

The 2009 Malaysia Sales Satisfaction Index (SSI) Study is based on the responses of more than 2,400 new-vehicle owners who purchased their vehicles between September 2008 and April 2009. The study was fielded between March and June 2009. The SSI Study is one of three consumer-based studies conducted annually in Malaysia by J.D. Power Asia Pacific. The 2009 Malaysia Customer Service Index (CSI) Study, which measures new-vehicle owner satisfaction with after-sales dealership service, was released in July.