We often wonder why manufacturers pay so much attention to their image, sometimes at the expense of everything else. One of the explanations for this phenomenon has just been put on a sign by the YouGov polling station. For a year, from February 1, 2021 to January 31, this year, the organization surveyed as many as 700,000 people to ask which manufacturer, in their opinion, had the best image in terms of pure quality, value for money, but also ease of use. satisfaction.
Result: it’s a bingo for French brands since Lemon† Renault and Peugeot place in the top 10. For de Leeuw it is even a great bingo, as he is first in the ranking, and this for the second year in a row.
Peugeot would therefore make better cars than the German trio mercedes† Audi and BMW who follows him on stage? As for all French brands, they would be much higher quality than the Japanese ones Lexus† Suzuki True Mitsubishi reunited and not even in the supposed top 10 club? In addition, the hexagonal cars would be just as reliable as the Korean ones. hyundai and kia †
The doubt that overwhelms us will see other studies, such as that of the magazine What to choose? who were engaged in the same kind of research as YouGov. But instead of asking the French if they thought the brand had the best image, the consumer lawyer focused on the breakdowns that customers suffered. And the result is not really the same vessel. Lexus, Subaru and Toyota lead, followed by Mitsubishi and Kia. The victory of Japan and Korea is overwhelming. The French ? Peugeot is 17th (out of 36) as is Citroën and Renault, they are 22nd and 26th respectively.
All surveys contradict YouGov
A reversal of the data that is not the fate of the only French surveys. In the United States, the largest international study on this, that of the firm JD Powers, says no different. Sure, America obliges, the French are not listed there. On the other hand, both the Koreans and the Japanese are doing very well there, all like the Japanese. They monopolize the first 10 places and are troubled in their ubiquity by only two brands: the local Buick and the German Porsche, whose reputation for reliability is well known.
So we start to have doubts. Would Koreans and Japanese sell worse products here than anywhere else? Would the German trio (Audi, BMW, Mercedes) be well-listed in the YouGov survey and absent from JD Powers’ one, only send poorly done cars to the US? Truth may have a very simple name: subjectivity. Peugeot is THE fashionable brand in France. The numbers bear witness to this and his 208 is today the best-selling model in France. The German brands have, always in all subjectivity, an image of reliability.
These two data explain the good scores of these brands. But there’s another reason to explain it. Whether you buy a Peugeot, and a fortiori a Mercedes, Audi or BMW, you are investing a significant amount in its purchase. However, it is sometimes difficult for a car owner to explain that he has difficulty with the chosen model. It would be a way of admitting he was wrong, which isn’t always easy. So he votes for his car, regardless of the very objective problems he has encountered. Subjectivity when you hold us.
