Cars and Drivers

Lincoln Ranks First in New Car Survey, Acura Last

Douglas A. McIntyre

Published: August 23, 2016 6:50 am

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 4:22 am

In the widely respected ACSI annual Auto Industry Customer Satisfaction Survey, Ford Motor Company’s (NYSE: F) small Lincoln division ranked first and Acura last.

According to the firm:

The report is based on a survey of 3,776 customers who have purchased or leased a new car within the last six months to three years. It includes analysis and scores on the ACSI’s 100-point scale rating customer satisfaction with over 20 of the most popular automotive nameplates sold in the United States. The measured nameplates include:

• Domestic: Buick (GM), Cadillac (GM), Chevrolet (GM), Chrysler (Fiat Chrysler), Dodge (Fiat Chrysler), Ford, GMC (GM), Jeep (Fiat Chrysler), Lincoln (Ford)
• European: Audi (Volkswagen), BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen
• Asian: Acura (Honda), Honda, Hyundai, Infiniti (Nissan), Kia, Lexus (Toyota), Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru, Toyota

Lincoln scored 87, followed by Honda Motor Co. Ltd. (NYSE: HMC) at 86, BMW at 85, Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) at 85, General Motors Co.’s (NYSE: GM) GMC at 84, Infiniti (Nissan) at 84, Lexus (Toyota) at 84, Subaru at 84 and Audi (Volkswagen) at 82. At the bottom of the list, Acura (Honda) scored 76. Most of the balance of the bottom of the list was littered with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (NYSE: FCAU) brands: Jeep at 78, Dodge at 78 and Chrysler at 79. Other surveys that have Fiat Chrysler models near the bottom have not hurt its sales.

In a comment about trends:

“The rise of mass-market vehicles may well be at the expense of luxury brands in the sense that buyers now see little differentiation between luxury cars and regular ones,” says Claes Fornell, ACSI Chairman and founder. “If there is little difference, why pay more? Exclusivity may not be enough.”