Volvo overtakes Mercedes in German customer satisfaction study

MUNICH – Volvo passed Mercedes-Benz to become only the second European automaker to take top honors in vehicle ownership satisfaction among consumers in Germany since 2002, according to a J.D. Power and Associates study.

Volvo ranked highest in vehicle owner satisfaction for 2-year-old cars with a score of 841 out of 1,000. The Swedish brand rose from a tie for seventh last year with 826 points because it scored particularly well among customers in vehicle appeal, J.D. Power said in a statement.

Each brand is rated on four measures: vehicle appeal, vehicle quality and reliability, ownership costs and service satisfaction.

Mercedes-Benz finished second with 839 points – which was one point higher than its winning score in 2010 when it became the first European automaker to rank No. 1 in the annual survey. (See table, bottom)

Either Toyota, Honda or Daihatsu finished No. 1 in the study between 2002 and 2009.

Rounding out the top five this year were Mazda (831), Mini (827) and Honda (824).

Mercedes, Mazda win 5 of 8 segments

Mercedes had the top ranked compact executive car (C class), executive luxury car (E class) and SUV (M class) in 2011.

Mazda was the only other automaker to have more than one top-ranked model as the Mazda2 was named top small car and the Mazda3 scored highest in the lower-medium class, J.D. Power said.

The study, which was done from January to March this year, is based on evaluations of more than 17,150 online interviews with German car owners after an average of two years of ownership. It was published last week. (For full results, click on 2011 Germany Vehicle Ownership Satisfaction Study, above right)