Gojirra99

I think 60 % is the result done by a different company, who happened to rank Lexus first (for luxury brands) as well btw ...

LexFather

Sigh...this is nothing new for BMW or Lexus, they consistantly rank at the top for Customer Loyalty. Considering BMW has a much more broad product line, which means there are more choices for a loyal customer to choose from, its pretty amazing Lexus is still #1.

So it seems you now think BMW>Lexus and we know you think the Genesis>Lexus. I wonder why we even buy our cars.

I don't mean to pick on Infiniti but they rank VERY low again and haven't moved a bit, even with a much better product lineup. The idea in the past was people didn't stay with the brand b/c of their bad lineup. Now they have a pretty decent lineup and people still leave the brand.

S8B

Surveys like this always make me scratch my head

I was really surpriced BMW wasn't #1; BMW loyalists are everywhere these days

.

mmarshall

Hyundai is not considered a luxury brand (though the Genesis is close).

mmarshall

I know plenty. In fact, I've gone shopping with several and helped them get their new (and second) Hyundai.

mmarshall

I-Drive, Chris-Bangle styling, snooty dealerships (some of them are improving), and, in some cases, shoddier construction, turned off a lot of potential repeat BMW customers in recent years. Some BMW loyalists, however, have remained so..........as have several BMW owners right here on CL.
And the X3 and X5 have brought in a new class of BMW customers that didn't exist before.

pagemaster

As they should. I am suprised that gap between Lexus and BMW was not higher. I thought Lexus was near 60% but I guess not. Most of the owner retention rate is more to do with the fact that Lexus are very reliable and not that they are better than a BMW's overall...

Faymester

I don't think he has a Lex ...

but OT: the list isn't terribly suprising ... though BMW loyalists may be very vocal, i think we consistantly see that there aren't as many of them as it seems

RXGS

iTrader: (2)

i wish infiniti or acura was higher up, i really do love those cars. And even if Mrcedes or Bmw built cars of the same quality as early 90's korean cars, people would still buy em. it is all bout the badge

Gojirra99

The most recent JD Power Customer Retention Study published December 2007 do have Lexus' retention rate at 63 %. Not sure where the above posted by 1Sick from another forum is from, but my guess is how different studys define retention rate could yield different numbers :




SOURCE : http://www.jdpower.com/corporate/new...spx?ID=2007292

.

bizzy928

LOL.....

luxury1

It is funny, on my Land Rover forum most of the people seem loyal (repeat owners) but I guess that they are the enthusiasts.

I know that for me personally, reliability, luxury and value are the reasons I own two Lexus vehicles. It started with one (the RX) and we were so impressed that when we wanted a full size luxury sedan the Lexus brand had to be considered and it far surpassed the other two cars that I was considering (S550 and LS460). Lexus really knows what they are doing.

On the other hand, my Land Rover has many things about it that I love and I will always own one. I like the fact that around me there are very few of them on the road and I really like the styling.

doug_999

Raises hand...
I think that many BMW owners have a hard time leaving the brand. As most of you know, I tried back in late 2002 and had a 39 month purgatory in a GS430.

I think that the BMW people who do leave the brand often
a) come back*
b) do so because BMW corporate has left them in bad bad lurch
c) can't deal with the brand moving forward and away from what they feel a BMW should be

* when I turned in my 2000 540ia the dealer asked what I was moving to. When I told them a Lexus, they looked at me and said "You'll be back". They didn't say it snotty or anything and I was kind of surprised. Alas, I understood down the road what they were talking about.

Now you can take all of the above and apply them to a long time Lexus owner.....

LexFather

I agree and don't disagree with the list at all. Lexus owners are satisfied as well as BMW owners in every one of these surveys we have seen b/c they lead in coming back to the brand. Both brands have some similar attributes and some very different ones. It shows different people can be loyal.

Lexus owners like not having problems but not having cars that are "involving". BMW owners will take the problems b/c the really enjoy their cars, no matter if its for sport or prestige.

Thats why its IMPORTANT to brands for dealers to take care of their customers, so they will stay with the brand. You rather people just move up or buy another one of your companies cars than cross shop or "go out to bid" if you will.

I give a lot of PROPS to BMW for being this high b/c they have TOTALLY changed their design inside and out and people still want them.

mmarshall

Yes, sometimes. I'll be the first to admit, from my auto reviews, that NOTHING has the driving/steering/suspension/handling feel of a BMW, Chris Bangle-machine or otherwise. The only exceptions are the Active-Steer BMW's which, IMO, cover up the normally superb feel with too much technology, U-joints/electric motors in the steering column, and variable-assist.

For years, the average BMW shop was like being in a room full of stuffy, arrogant, German aristocrats. That is rapidly changing today, due to increasing competition from other upmarket brands.


If you get to the point where you are no longer desiging vehicles that satisfy your customer base, then you are not moving forward, but backwards.

Look at Cadillac, for example. In its rush to BMW-ize its line and turn them into sports and semi-sports sedans, they have almost COMPLETELY ignored the traditional Cadillac base of customers who like big, heavy, softly-sprung, cushy-riding models with hood ornaments, vinyl roofs, white/yellow-striped tires, etc..... Cadillac, by doing this, may have talked themselves into believing they have moved "forward" (and, to some extent, they DID move forward for the younger, more sport-oriented crowd), but, by not having at least one traditional, BIG, cushy Cadillac left after the DeVille/DTS is gone, it the company will have shot itself in the foot with their traditional customer base. Lincoln, unfortunately, is also starting to make the same mistake.

That is also one thing our own government has not yet realized, in its ever-increasing regulation of the auto industry and telling auto manufacturers what kinds of vehicles to build and how to build them. Like misguided auto "marketers", government bureaucrats often overrule the will of the public with their attitude that they know what is "best" for the auto-buying public.






I understand it, too. Typical BMW (and German) cockiness/arrogance, even if it didn't necessarily SOUND snotty. I know it well. But you don't see that as much at BMW shops anymore because of serious competition...though BMW still rules the roost on steering/chassis engineering, their cars are no longer peerless any more.