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Scooters: New models fail to satisfy users

December 19, 2007 16:31 IST
Customer satisfaction levels for scooters in the country dropped marginally this year as buyers in North India gave their thumbs down to products of various manufacturers.

According to a study by global market research and insight group TNS, customer satisfaction levels in north fell significantly among all the three categories of geared and ungeared scooters, and scooterettes.

Yet, the western region led the satisfaction ratings among both ungeared and geared category of scooters. "The overall industry average Total Customer Satisfaction Study (STCS) score drops marginally by one point as compared to 2006.

However, the overall performance of the industry has not changed significantly over 2006 since the larger selling models have maintained their respective ratings whereas the drop in scores is significant for the low volume models," TNS Automotive senior vice-president Pradeep Saxena said.

According to the findings of the study, the best selling models Eterno and Activa from Honda Motorcycles and Scooter India and the Scooty Pep Plus from TVS Motor ranked the highest in their respective segments.

The trend across genders remained that of last year with women consistently rating the products higher on satisfaction than their male counterparts, the study added.

Comparing the companies, which manufacture motorcycles as well as scooters, the study said Bajaj Auto scooter customers were much less satisfied than its motorcycle customers.

"Hero Honda after defying this pattern last year follows suit with its motorcycle customers rating the company higher than its scooter customers. But still as a company it shares the top position with Honda," it added.

TVS, however, defied the trend, with its scooter owners significantly more satisfied than its motorcycle owners, it said.

The study took responses of more than 2000 scooter buyers towards the performance of more than 15 models in the key areas of sales satisfaction, product quality, scooter performance and design, after-sales service, brand image and cost-of-ownership.

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