Ford's focus on customer drives higher satisfaction scores

For the first time in the 28-year history of the Global Quality Research System (GQRS) study, customer satisfaction with Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles has reached its highest level in North America - and now equals Toyota.

In addition, Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles had the lowest number of "things gone wrong" among all automakers - putting Ford in a statistical tie with Toyota for initial quality, and ahead of Honda.

Additionally, according to J.D. Power and Associates, the Ford, Lincoln and Mercury brands improved in the 2009 Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout (APEAL) Study, the industry's top study measuring customer satisfaction in design, content, and vehicle performance.

The APEAL Study also showed the Ford brand improving by 17 points and moving up six rank positions among nameplates from last year. The Lincoln brand improved by 18 points climbing two spots in the survey from a year ago. Mercury improved by eight points.

The Ford Flex and F-150, both segment leaders, scored better than the segment average in every category, performing especially well in fuel efficiency and exterior styling. Ford's new F-150 improved 52 points from last year and scored 16 points better than all redesigned trucks in this survey.

"Ford's quality rankings continue to climb consistently year after year and we intend to keep the momentum going to become the best in the industry," said Bennie Fowler, group vice president, Global Quality. "To do so, we're raising the stakes and redefining what it means to deliver a quality product by giving consumers more than just defect-free cars and trucks; we're exceeding their expectations with features they would expect to find only in high-priced luxury lines."

"We couldn't be more excited about this news - these great product achievements form the foundation of our efforts to create highly satisfied customers across the region," said Waldo Galan, managing director at Ford Middle East. "We look forward to creating more opportunities for Middle East consumers to experience these improvements firsthand, via the latest additions to our multi-award winning line-up of products."

The GQRS study is conducted for Ford on a quarterly basis by Michigan-based RDA Group. New vehicle owners are asked to report defects or issues as well as rate satisfaction with vehicle quality on a scale of 1 to 10 across an array of vehicle systems and features.

The JD Power & Associates APEAL Study asks customers what they like about the performance, execution and layout of their new vehicle after the first three months it is in service. Customers rate their level of "gratification" on a variety of vehicle attributes, including safety, fuel economy, cargo space and roominess, exterior styling and price.