Acura Piloting Mystery Customer Satisfaction Program

An Acura official says the brand is piloting a mystery customer-satisfaction program, in cooperation with its dealers.

“We benchmark (dealers) with high customer satisfaction and what can we learn from them,” Mike Accavitti, general manager-Acura in the U.S., tells WardsAuto in an interview.

“What can we do to differentiate ourselves from the rest of the players, so that people feel that Acura experience really exceeded (their) expectations?”

The pilot program is running at stores throughout the country and Acura will reconvene its dealer council in roughly six months to decide if the program will be rolled out more extensively and, if so, what modifications it may need.

Accavitti won’t divulge full details of the pilot program for competitive reasons. He does say the brand is looking for customer perspectives, although that isn’t an entirely new endeavor. Most auto brands survey customers on their dealership experience at least once after purchasing a vehicle, if not repeatedly.

“Rather than us sitting in an ivory tower deciding (a strategy, we are asking customers) what’s important to them, the luxury buyer? Where do they want us to improve on time, where do they want us to improve on treatment (and) service areas, as well as the front end of the shop?”

Acura already performs quite well on third-party surveys of customer-retail experiences, but Accavitti says the brand can’t take its eye off the ball, as how luxury vehicle owners are treated is where the sector’s winners and losers will be determined.

“We’re kind of driving toward product parity, (given) regulatory and emissions and CAFE (requirements in the U.S.),” he says. “We still have a little bit different solution (than our competitors) because of our front-wheel-drive vs. rear-wheel-drive product philosophy and…the uniqueness of our Super-Handling-All-Wheel Drive.

“But the big battleground is going to be the customer experience.”

He cites online shopping as another area where Acura has been successful, and wants to maintain its standing.

“We’re looking to see how we can improve that experience, even though we score very, very well on studies on website satisfaction.”

Acura expects to see growth in 2015, although Accavitti won’t say how much. Brand sales were flat last year, which Acura has blamed on the dissolution of the TSX and TL sedans well ahead of the launch of the all-new TLX.

U.S. sales are expected to rise this year due to a full year of TLX availability, continuing strong sales of the RDX and MDX CUVs and the refreshed ILX entry sedan, which has a more powerful base engine and some design updates for ’16.

Acura reportedly is pursuing more leasing this year, as competing luxury brands, particularly BMW, have higher lease-penetration rates. Leasing is desirable to many brands because it provides a steady stream of returning customers.

Accavitti says this year Acura also is requesting U.S. dealers who haven’t upgraded to the brand’s latest showroom standards to do so. The automaker is providing some compensation to offset the expense of remodeling.

He is not as keen as some other luxury executives who recently have spoken in favor of Tesla’s mall-store model, noting Acura already can display its vehicles at shopping malls without having to rent a storefront.

“What happens for the seven hours a day that nobody is in that store? For me there are more efficient alternatives to getting your products out (in public),” Accavitti says.

He points to continuing and expanding sponsorships as a way to expose the brand to new buyers.

Acura recently sponsored the Sundance Film Festival, which not only included prominent signage but transportation for attendees as well.

“We had over 50 MDXs we used as Uber cars, so you’re getting people in the backs of the cars, or the front of the cars, and it’s in a snowy environment, and you’re demonstrating the AWD capability and the luxurious-ness of the MDX. It’s a really nice program. And it’s unique. We’ve been doing it now for five years. Every year we make it a little bit better and better,” Accavitti says.

Speaking of Uber, the Acura chief is hopeful rather than fearful of the changing transportation landscape the car-sharing service is ushering in.

“The good news is the Uber guys are not walking around with rickshaws; they’re at least driving a car. So we have the opportunity to sell one to them.”

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