Sterling ranks highest among conventional medium-duty trucks in overall product satisfaction, while Hino ranks highest among cabover engine medium-duty trucks for the second consecutive year, according to the J.D. Power and Associates
2003 Medium-Duty Truck Customer Satisfaction Study.
On the service side, GMC Truck ranks highest in dealer service satisfaction for a second consecutive year.
Medium-duty truck product satisfaction is based on six key factors of the ownership experience (in order of importance): vehicle quality; vehicle engine; vehicle transmission; ride, handling and braking; vehicle cab interior; and exterior design and styling.
Sterling, which is represented in the study by its L-Line and Acterra models, performs better than the industry average in each of the six factors of product satisfaction.
"Sterling made dramatic year-over-year improvement," said Brian Etchells, manager of commercial vehicle research at J.D. Power and Associates.
"Sterling's scores for vehicle engine, cab interior and exterior design and styling are all substantially up year over year, and all three lead the competition in product satisfaction."
Peterbilt and Kenworth closely follow Sterling in the conventional medium-duty truck overall product satisfaction rankings. Peterbilt scores highest in vehicle quality and vehicle transmission, while Kenworth scores highest in ride, handling and braking.
Hino, which represents 20% of the cabover market, scores highest in its segment in five of the six factors of product satisfaction, with vehicle transmission being the only exception. For the second consecutive year, Hino's biggest competitive advantage is in vehicle cab interior, where it scores considerably higher than its nearest competitor in the segment.
"Hino scores at the top and significantly above the industry average on all eight attributes that comprise the vehicle cab interior factor," Etchells said. "These high scores include cab roominess, driver's seat comfort, lack of interior noise and amount of cab storage."
Mitsubishi Fuso, which follows Hino in the cabover engine market segment overall customer satisfaction rankings, scores highest in vehicle transmission.
Dealer service satisfaction, a critical part of the ownership experience, is measured using seven key factors of the medium-duty truck service experience (in order of importance): dealer attitude; service delivery process; service quality; price of service; service facility; service initiation; and service adviser.
GMC Truck dealers score higher than other truck dealers in dealer attitude, service delivery process and service quality, and tie with International for the highest score for service adviser. International, which scores highest in service initiation, and Ford follow GMC Truck in the dealer service rankings both showing substantial improvements in service satisfaction year over year.
The 2003 Medium-Duty Truck Customer Satisfaction Study is based on responses from more than 1,600 primary maintainers of two-year-old medium-duty trucks (Classes 5, 6 and 7). The study analyzes customer satisfaction across a number of important factors, including vehicle performance, product quality, interior and exterior design, dealer service, dealer parts and manufacturer images.