TOYOTA SAYS: The Hino (formerly Toyota Trucks) dealer network has come out as the dominant truck distribution and after sales force in South Africa according to Scott Byers’ Comparative Customer Satisfaction Monitor (CCSM) for the fourth quarter of 2008. This detailed, quarterly survey of the local truck market by the Scott Byers Network is based on replies from between 3 000 and 4 000 respondents and covers 12 makes of truck available on the local market.
Not only was Hino top of the list in terms of the combined customer satisfaction monitor, with a score of 92.39%, but it was also the best performer in both the sales (94.37%) and service (91.03%) categories. It placed second, marginally behind Mercedes-Benz, in the parts section (92.78%), although Hino had the lowest percentage of dissatisfied customers in the latter section.
Only eight of the 12 truck makes in the survey had overall ratings that exceeded the national average of just over 85%.
“We are delighted at the Hino dealers’ performance in the latest Scott Byers Monitor, covering the last quarter of 2008,” said Hino vice president Piet van Wyk de Vries.
“We have all been working very hard at a combined approach by our head office and regional teams, along with our dealers, to sharpen up in areas that had been identified in the past as opportunities to improve our ratings and so improve the service we offer our customers in terms of sales, service and parts supply”
Van Wyk de Vries said he was also satisfied with Hino sales in South Africa in 2008, despite the fact that the market got very tough in the second half of the year as the effects of high fuel prices and the global economic turmoil started to bite.
Total Hino sales for 2008 amounted to 5 236 units, which was only 2.7% below the record total of 5 384 units sold in 2007. Compare this good performance to a fall of 6.5% for the overall SA truck and bus market in 2008.
The 2008 total was made up of 2 824 Dyna medium trucks (extending Dyna’s leadership in this segment to 26 years), 1 828 Hino 500 Series heavy trucks (maintaining Hino's segment leadership for this model) and 584 Hino 700 Series extra-heavy trucks.
“Our strong sales in a tough market in 2008 and our leadership position in the latest customer satisfaction survey have positioned Hino as one of the leading brands on the local truck market. Now we enter a period of financial constraints and difficult trading conditions in 2009, but we are confident that the power of the trusted Hino brand will ensure our ongoing progress in servicing all sectors of the SA truck market,” commented the Hino vice president.
“We believe we are well positioned to continue our recent run of successes in both sales and customer satisfaction as our dealers switch over from the previous Toyota Trucks corporate identity at their facilities to the distinctive new Hino branding.
“Where necessary, changes are being made at the same time to facilities and some of the dealership operational processes all aimed at benefitting the customer. However, the whole change-over will be handled as a systematic, step-by-step process to prevent any disruption to our customers,” concluded Piet van Wyk de Vries.
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