J.D. Power And Associates Ranks Skoda A Top Three Brand On Customer Satisfaction

MILTON KEYNES, UNITED KINGDOM – May 27, 2011: Skoda has been placed joint third with Jaguar out of 28 car brands in the annual UK Vehicle Ownership Satisfaction Study (VOSS) carried out by respected independent research firm J.D. Power and Associates.

It means the Czech brand has been inside the top 10 for an astonishing 18 years without a break.

The study is based on four factors which cover the ownership experience – Vehicle Quality and Reliability, Vehicle Appeal, Dealer Service Satisfaction and Ownership Costs. It covers vehicles after an average of two years of ownership.

Almost 17,000 responses from UK drivers were collected in total. J.D. Power and Associates’ research is conducted totally independent of manufacturers and their franchised retailer network.

Škoda earned a composite customer satisfaction score of 825 points out of a possible 1,000. It puts the company in joint third position with Jaguar against a sales-weighted industry average of 794.

With Škoda in sixth position last year it’s an impressive jump of three places up the rankings. The brand also out-performed the industry’s average improvement; Škoda’s 2011 result is 13 points better than last year, while the industry average is only up five points.

The company’s star performer was the Octavia which ranked number one in the Lower Medium car segment.

Brian Walters, Senior Director of European Operations at J.D. Power and Associates, commented: “Škoda’s performance in 2011 strongly reflects the brand’s focus on customer satisfaction and a desire to improve the key drivers of the ownership experience.”

Robert Hazelwood, Škoda UK Brand Director, was delighted with the result. “Customer satisfaction awards are always some of the most important to us at Škoda because they reflect the hard work put in by our retailers across the country. This result is a tribute to their dedication.”