Chinese automotive giant Geely, which bought Swedish car maker Volvo in 2010, has come out tops in three out of four JD Power customer satisfaction indexes in its home country.
According to the recent 2012 China Customer Service Index (CSI) report released by J.D. Power Asia Pacific Inc., overall customer satisfaction for after-sales service with authorised dealers in China climbed steadily over the last six years and remained stable for 2012.
Geely’s popular LC (Gleagle Panda in its domestic market), Englon (not in South Africa) and Emgrand (EC 7 to be launched in SA early in 2013) made a clean sweep and are respectively rated first, second and fourth, while most of China’s other homegrown brands have slipped backwards. The three Geely models scored of 865, 861 and 850 respectively, while the industry average was 832 points out of a possible 1 000.
Locally, Geely South Africa has recently opened its own Research and Development centre at its head office in Midrand, Gauteng, to assist the Chinese automaker with changes needed for local conditions before the launch of new models for the 2013 South African market. Geely SA, with 34 dealers in South Africa and growing, markets the MK, LC and LC X on local soil.
“The continued improvement in quality, safety and attitude towards an increasingly demanding buyer at home, benefits the brand globally,” said Henri Meistre of Geely SA. “This is proof that the efforts and enormous resources being ploughed back into the brand, along with the exposure through ownership of international brands such as Volvo, London Taxi Cabs and DSI (the worlds second largest gearbox manufacturer) is paying off,” he said.
While the success has been achieved in Geely’s domestic market, and we doubt it would score as high in South Africa right now, it is a positive sign of progress. The new R&D facility in Gauteng is a step in the right direction as far as catering to our local market goes and we sincerely hope it will ‘improved the breed’ and result in more positive news from Geely in the future.
Do you own a Geely and if so, what has been your ownership experience to-date; good, bad or inbetween?
