Race for Brand Equity Destined to Rely on Auto Service Quality

Automotive Speaker Previews 21st Century Gap in Technician Competence

DETROIT, April 22 -- The success of global automakers at narrowing the quality gap between brands in the manufacturing process is destined to drive increasing attention toward ensuring fast and accurate auto service to retain demanding customers in the 21st Century, according to automotive industry technology journalist Steve Ford - The Car Guy®.

Speaking at the eAuto World conference in Dearborn, Mich., on April 18, Ford presented a speech titled, ``The 21st Century Technician: Demystifying the New Service Paradigm,'' and highlighted the changing automotive service world that he explained parallels the spellbinding speed of the automobile's current technological transformation.

``From the advent of the mass-produced automobile and the early victory of the internal combustion engine over turn-of-the last century steam and electric power, to the advent of emissions-control technology in the 1970s, powertrain evolution occurred at a snail's pace,'' Ford said.

``While the period from Cadillac's 1912 introduction of the mass-produced electric self-starter to the arrival of the catalytic converter in 1975, there were relatively few technologies that represented paradigm shifts.''

While acknowledging the significance of the automatic transmission, fuel injection and transitorized ignition as landmark achievements, Ford noted that the majority of technology updates that auto service technicians needed to remain competent in repairing cars occurred mostly decades apart.

``Today, and in a period between just 1996 and 2004, we're experiencing the arrival of telematics/remote diagnostics, hybrid internal combustion/EV powertrains, integrated starter/generators, 42-volt electrical systems, drive-by-wire, fuel cell/hydrogen powerplants and wireless vehicle subsystems,'' he noted.

Ford said that he joins all auto enthusiasts in appreciating head-turning designs and great performance, yet he cautioned industry members to recall times when model and brand reputations were tarnished by product-performance and warranty disasters.

``Not all customer complaints are attributed to engineering flaws. When new technologies have been sprung on even the best service technicians, they can't fix them if they don't have updated training and the best current information,'' Ford said.

``Out of the hundreds of people behind every showroom sale, each technician involved in the after-sale years will play an increasingly critical role in determining whether a customer believes in a brand enough to make a repeat purchase,'' he added.

Ford said that the bridge to customer satisfaction and repeat purchases is going to rely on the best-trained service technicians. ``At no time in the 20th Century did the 'mechanic' need to know as much, as fast and as accurately about every facet of the vehicle as today's and tomorrow's 'technician.'''

``Try getting your laptop computer back from a same-day repair at 5:00 p.m. within 10 percent of the estimate. They'd laugh at you. But not auto technicians; they do it every day of the week,'' Ford noted. ``Tomorrow's brand battles will be about more than sales contests, they'll be increasingly about battles of service skills.''

Additional information about Ford's automotive industry speeches and technology journalism can be accessed at www.thecarguy.com .