Jaguar Tops List in J.D. Power Customer Satisfaction Study

In an unusual twist, many Asian brands — including Honda, Toyota, Scion, Subaru, Suzuki, Hyundai and Mazda — ranked below the industry-average customer satisfaction score in the study, despite gaining market share over domestic vehicles.

Hummer, Lexus, Cadillac and Mercedes-Benz were the other top automakers cited in the study. Mazda, Dodge, Jeep and Nissan occupied the bottom rungs.

"Jaguar ranks highest in satisfying buyers with the new-vehicle sales process, improving 14 points from 2007 to a score of 907 in 2008," said J.D. Power and Associates in a statement. "Jaguar performs particularly well in the paperwork/finance and delivery process factors."

Power noted that overall satisfaction across the industry has increased for a third consecutive year. The improvement was attributed to "improvements in dealership facility and delivery process."

The 2008 Sales Satisfaction Index Study is based on responses from 35,805 new-vehicle buyers who purchased or leased vehicles in May 2008.

Inside Line says: Jaguar is the gold standard in customer satisfaction, but the Asian automakers apparently have some work to do. — Anita Lienert, Correspondent