Ford Claims Quality Equal To Honda & Toyota
The Ford Motor Company is looking for every marketing edge that they can get in this tough economy. With industry sales falling to their lowest levels in nearly two decades, the battle for a bigger piece of a shrinking pie is heating up.
One area that Ford says they are excelling in is quality, so much so that the company has said that they are nearly equaling Toyota and Honda in the domestic market. To that end, the company has launched a new advertising campaign to tell the world about Ford’s accomplishment, feat that Ford says puts them among the top in the industry.
”This is One Ford at its best. It’s taken thousands of people continuously working together with laser-like focus every day to boost vehicle quality for our customers to the top of the pack,” said Bennie Fowler, Ford group vice president, Global Quality. “But this is a never-ending journey. The goal now is to distance ourselves from our top competitors. We want to be the sole quality leader.”
To make their case, Ford has cited the latest U.S. Global Quality Research System (GQRS) study which concluded that Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles collectively improved for the fourth straight year, moving into a virtual tie with Honda-Acura and Toyota-Lexus-Scion for the 2008 model year.
“We are consistently delivering improved quality by following standardized, disciplined processes throughout Ford,” said Fowler. “This is particularly impressive considering the difficult challenges we’ve had to overcome.”
The GQRS study cited TGW — Things Gone Wrong — which looks at problems with new vehicles discovered after buyers take delivery. The 2008-launched Ford F-Series Super Duty and the Lincoln Mark LT ranked first in their respective segments in both TGW and customer satisfaction. Ford Mustang GT 500 topped the sports car category in TGW.
Ford also ranked best in class for TGW performance in the functional areas of Vehicle Engineering and Electrical among major manufacturers. Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles averaged 1,287 TGW per 1,000 vehicles, a reduction of 108 versus a year ago. Customer satisfaction with the company’s vehicles reached its highest level ever, improving one point to 77 percent.
(Source: Ford Motor Company)
October 20th, 2008 at 7:43 pm
I’ve heard a couple of these ads. “We’re almost as good as our competitor, so buy from us instead” (OK, so it’s not an exact quote).
While a little honesty is refreshing, I’m not sure that I would hire a company that decided to use that as my ad slogan. Those ads just don’t seem very flattering to me.
Redding Used Carss last blog post..Air powered car to hit the US in 2010
October 21st, 2008 at 3:40 am
LOL — yes, let’s think of something a bit more convincing!
One problem with dealer ad campaigns is that they can be too distracting, personality driven with little substance about the cars they are trying to sell.
October 21st, 2008 at 11:13 am
Considering the quality of many vehicles on the market today, perhaps that’s by necessity (little substance in ads)
Redding Used Carss last blog post..Air powered car to hit the US in 2010
April 15th, 2010 at 8:15 am
I must agree on Ford approaching Toyota quality, but that happens mostly due to latest Toyota screw-ups then Ford improving on anything. Lol. Maybe if Honda will fail a little Ford will get closer to them as well.
April 15th, 2010 at 8:20 am
Actually, Ford quality was recognized by Consumer Reports with being on par with Toyota and Honda prior to Toyota’s latest quality problems being aired.
Also see: Why Ford Is Winning With Quality