Cup size distracts carmakers from quality
After Mercedes-Benz plummeted to 26th in the JD Power survey of US car reliability in 2003, the then-head of the German luxury marque pinned the blame on American disappointment with small European paper cup holders.
ADVERTISEMENT
Two years on, though the cars have been re-engineered with cup holders big enough for a “super-size” American-grande cappuccino, the company has been forced to admit more serious flaws. A record 1.3m Mercedes were recalled two months ago for engine and brake repairs.
The problems experienced by Mercedes drivers are likely to be the focus today when JD Power, bought in March by US publisher McGraw-Hill, releases its latest survey of new-car quality. Its reliability results follow in a month's time. But the surveys themselves will also come under the microscope as manufacturers and analysts begin to re-evaluate their importance and ask whether there are not better ways of measuring car quality.
The question is whether doing well in the surveys, relied on by many US consumers when buying a car, is synonymous with improving quality.
Rankings are so important that some carmakers have begun to design their cars just to do well in the survey rather than to improve underlying quality. Audi cars in the US come with extra dustproof features to stop fine particles kicked up on open roads being swept into the cabin.
Eckhard Cordes, head of DaimlerChrysler's Mercedes car division, says the concentration on US tastes means the carmaker is reconsidering its long-held objective of returning to the top spot and may settle for second or third.
But Chance Parker, head of product research and analysis at JD Power, says the focus on cup holders obscures the real issue whether carmakers respond to what customers want.
He says Asian manufacturers, led by Toyota and its luxury brand Lexus which consistently top the surveys, have been more humble in their approach to the US market than the Europeans.
The stakes in the tussle over quality are high. Quality used to be a badge of honour for German luxury, now it is an embarrassment.
They have fared particularly badly on reliability measured after three years of ownership and slightly better on initial quality, measured after 90 days.
Mercedes, the most reliable marque in 1994, has fallen to 10th out of 37 brands in initial quality and 28th in reliability.
Many analysts see its weak US sales this year as a result of its fall from grace. Both BMW, ranked 12th and 13th respectively last year, and Audi, rated 11th and 22nd, want to improve their ratings while things can only improve for Porsche, 35th and 10th, and Volkswagen, 36th and 33rd.
Much of the criticism of the JD Power surveys comes from their subjective nature. They ask owners and only the owners what went wrong with the cars. Stephen Cheetham, analyst at Sanford C Bernstein, says: “The subjective comment is a product of expectation.If you buy a mass-market product your expectations are lower than if you buy a Mercedes.”
Other surveys, such as Consumer Reports in the US and the breakdown statistics from ADAC, the German automobile association, are viewed as no better in judging overall quality.
Both Mr Cheetham and Keith Hayes, a Goldman Sachs analyst, suggest second-hand price is a better gauge of how customers and the market view quality.
Some analysts are also worried that the JD Power surveys, which treat all problems serious or trivial alike, can lead to skewed results. Mr Parker admits that an engine blowing up and a poorly dimensioned cupholder are both classified as one fault.
But he says an attempt at weighting problems according to their seriousness produced the same results so the company decided to keep things simple.
In contrast, he says, European manufacturers have been guilty of the opposite, using too much complex electronics in their cars and baffling consumers. To help carmakers understand what went wrong, JD Power delivers a raft of data not only on its own quality performance but also on all their rivals.
More controversially, it provides a separate consulting service to help carmakers improve their quality. Mr Parker says Chinese walls are in place but admits some carmakers have approached the consulting arm to get a better rating.
However, he adds: “Ultimately the survey is just a regurgitation of what consumers tell us, so if a carmaker doesn't act, it won't get any better.”
Today, and again next month, the world will find out whether Mercedes and others have done enough.
做大咖啡杯托，能救奔驰吗？
2003年，在JD Power对全美汽车进行的可靠性调查中，梅赛德斯?奔驰(Mercedes-Benz)的排名骤跌至第26位。当时，这个德国豪华汽车品牌的负责人将此归因为美国人对欧洲轿车里的纸杯杯托感到不满。
两年后，虽然对轿车进行了重新设计，改进后的杯托足以装下“超大杯”的美国卡普奇诺咖啡(cappuccino)，但梅赛德斯被迫承认轿车存在更严重的暇疵。两个月前，梅花赛德斯召回了130万辆轿车，对引擎和刹车进行修理，召回数量创下历史最高纪录。
今年3月，JD Power被美国出版公司McGraw-Hill收购。驾驶梅赛德斯的人遇到的问题很可能就是今天JD Power发布新车质量最新调查结果时大家所关注的焦点。一个月内，JD Power又公布了汽车可靠性的调查结果。但是，当制造商和分析人士开始重新评估调研的重要性，并提出衡量汽车质量是否还有其它更好的方法时，调查本身也将被放在显微镜底下进行剖析。
问题是在调查中取得较好的排名是否是改进质量的同义词，因为调查的对象是许多正在购车的美国消费者。
排名变得如此重要，以致于一些汽车制造商开始仅以在调查中脱颖而出为目标设计汽车，而不是改进根本性的质量问题。在美国上市的奥迪(Audi)轿车新增了防尘功能，目的是避免在空旷的道路上飞扬的尘土进入车厢内。
戴姆勒?克莱斯勒(DaimlerChrysler)旗下的梅赛德斯轿车部门的负责人埃卡德?柯德斯(Eckard Cordes)表示，专注于研究美国人的喜好意味着，该汽车制造商正在重新考虑重登老大宝座的长期目标，可能将勉强接受第二或第三的排名。
但JD Power产品研究和分析部门的负责人查安斯?帕克(Chance Parker)说，对于杯托的关注掩盖了真正的问题，即汽车制造商是否对客户的需求作出反应。
他说，以一直在调查排名中高居榜首的丰田汽车(Toyota)及其豪华轿车品牌雷克萨斯(Lexus)为首的亚洲制造商对美国市场的态度一直比欧洲制造商更为谦卑。
关于质量之争的赌注很高。质量曾是德国豪华汽车荣誉的象征，现在却成为令人尴尬的事。
德国汽车在3年使用寿命后的可靠性评比中排名尤为落后，在使用90天后测得的新车质量上成绩略微好些。
作为1994年最可靠的汽车品牌，梅赛德斯的排名一落千丈――在37个品牌的新车质量评比中名列第10，在可靠性评比中排名28。
许多分析人士将今年梅赛德斯在美国销售额上的下滑看作是排名下跌的结果。去年，在新车质量和可靠性评比中分别排名12和13的德国宝马汽车(BMW)和排名11和22的奥迪希望提高排名，但只有排名35和10的保时捷(Porsche)和排名36和33的大众(Volkswagen)有上升的空间。
在很大程度上，对于JD Power调查的批评来自其主观性。他们调查的对象是车主，而且仅限于那些汽车发生故障的车主。Sanford C Bernstein的分析师斯蒂芬?奇特汉姆(Stephen Cheetham)表示，“主观性的评论是期望值的产物。如果你购买一件大众产品，你的期望值会比购买梅赛德斯汽车低。”
外界认为，美国《消费者报告》、德国汽车协会ADAC等其它调查对综合质量评定也无优势可言。
奇特汉姆先生和来自高盛集团(Goldman Sachs)的分析师基思?海斯(Keith Hayes)提出，二手车价格是一种更好地衡量顾客和市场对汽车质量评价的标准。
JD Power调查对于大小问题均采取同一方式，一些分析人士也担心这可能导致有失偏颇的结果。帕克先生承认，引擎爆炸和杯托尺寸不对都被归于同一类故障。
但他表示，尝试根据问题的严重性而有所偏重会产生相同的结果，因此公司决定使事情简单化。
他说，欧洲制造商的问题正相反，因为在汽车中使用太多复杂的电子元件而使消费者感到困惑。为了帮助汽车制造商了解问题出在哪里，JD Power公布了许多数据――不仅包括制造商自己的质量业绩，还包括所有竞争对手的数据。
更具有争议的是，JD Power提供一种单独的咨询服务，以帮助汽车制造商改进质量。帕克先生说，他们的隔离堡垒固若金汤，但他承认一些汽车制造商为获得更好的评级而接近咨询机构。
然而，他补充道，“最终，调查结果只是对消费者向我们提出的反馈意见的一种反刍。因此，如果汽车制造商不采取行动，那么质量不会得到改进。”
现在，还有下个月，世界可以看看梅赛德斯和其它汽车制造商是否已做足功课。
