Peter M. De Lorenzo, the self-styled AutoExtremist, seems to have calmed down a notch or two in recent weeks. Sweet Pete is back to taking well-aimed rifle shots at the industry’s soft spots. This week, he takes on J.D. Power and Associates. As SP points out, few consumers realize that J.D. Power is a for-profit marketing/research/data mill firm dedicated to raking in the bucks by any means possible. “Their latest money-making brainstorm? Something called the ‘Vehicle Launch Index.'” Using a bunch of pseudo-scientific statistical mumbo-jumbo, J.D. Power says they will be able to measure the effectiveness of new model launch campaigns AND tell the auto makers how to do it better. Peter doesn’t miss a step when he says: “J.D. Power has honed its brazen formula of Unmitigated Gall + Unmitigated Bullshit = Huge Wads of Cash exceedingly well over the years, and too often the auto industry blindly catered to Power with little rhyme or reason other than the fact that they were afraid what would happen if theydidn’t bow down to them.
“Fortunately, the industry has a lot more to worry about than J.D Power’s latest money-making gambit these days, because a basic survival mode has brought clarity to the industry’s thinking that didn’t exist before; and it’s about time.” Yes to ‘no on J.D.’, no to Motown’s clarity claim.
In fact, one wonders why Sweet Pete feels the need to defend the indefensible (Detroit’s muddled marketing and broken brands) even if he does speak from personal experience.
“It’s a lot easier lobbing grenades in from the cheap seats, but if you’ve never sweated over a product launch – or the pricing, marketing and advertising decisions that go with it – then there’s no amount of number crunching that’s going to help you come up with a ‘plan,’ at least one that’s worth a shit that is.”
Still, it’s good to hear something new from the autoblogosphere’s most vocal proponent of the “get off my lawn” school of analysis say something other than WHY CAN’T THEY JUST LEAVE MOTOWN ALONE!
I agree with this correspondent, for years I have thought that a company like J.D. Power where in it only for the money they could make and not be a benefit to the Consumer! Many low brow Car reports follow J.D. Power to the letter, screwing consumers in the long run!
That Shirt is the real extremist.
How dare they! Why the unmitigated gall of these people to even attempt to review the effectiveness of product launches is ridiculous in the extreme!
They have no right to sit there and judge us ad execs. They have no idea the number of 3 martini lunches, black Banana Republic mock turtlenecks, and miscellaneous facial hair it takes to actually put together an effective ad campaign.
Why don’t you try it yourself, J.D., if that is your real name? You try thinking up a campaign as brilliant as the Nitro one that had a jumpstarted old car flying — literally flying — into the air. Or be bold enough to go there the way the Neon did with one simple word. Hi.
You try getting an old model slash actress to convince the world that women are getting knocked up just so they can sample German engineering in a minivan. Or try telling the world that the Taurus is back, with all the old skool Taurus swagger, even if it does look like a 500 with useless holes on the side.
Not that easy, Mr. quote unquote quality, is it?
Well I for one truly admire Sweet Pete’s selfless integrity for defending the honor of the poor ad exec. And to know that he does it because he cares, not because he himself is a longtime ad exec. Uh, right?
I used to read Sweet Pete regularly. I felt like he had the kind of insight that could really change the industry for the better.
Now? I barely pay attention. Bitter, angry old man in a cheerleader costume is more than I can take.
J.D. Power trying to make a buck fleecing the stupid. Shame !! What do they think this is, the United States of America?
Vehicle Quality, to me, means will something break. Or that, with time, something will it stop functioning how it originally functioned.
I think this is how a lot of people think the J.D. Power vehicle quality survey works. That a defect means something broke. But that’s not true. Someone doesn’t like the ride? Defect. Someone doesn’t like the interior? Defect. Someone thinks the car is too noisy? Defect.
I can sit in the car and tell if I like the interior, and I can test drive it for noise and ride.
Labeling subjective critiques of things functioning as they were design to function as defects make J.D. Power’s reports worthless.
LEAVE MOTOWN ALONE! Rewrite the copy and this could work.
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=kHmvkRoEowc
yeah! and they had the unmitigated gall to trash the Aztec for not having tissue paper holders in convenient locations. what losers…….
Is it just me or does it seem like J.D. Power (for whom my niece works, coincidentally) designs its awards so that specific cars will win them? Isn’t that a little fishy?
AE Peter D is absolutely spot on with regards to the insignificance of initial 90 day quality crap that JD Powers harps on. Even 3 year quality is only marginally useful. Its the 5 year or longer ststs that matter to most consumers. All JD Powers did is to lead some auto companies off on a wild goose chase to irrelevance instead of focusing on long term durablity which is what most consumers demand.
no slushbox- Your assessment of JDPs VDS is by-and-large correct. IIRC the “things that broke” categories are something like 2 of the 7or 8 categories they rate.
I know NVH and Safety are two of the other categories, and something called driveability. This is why luxury brands score better in VDS than in CR and why small car brands fare worse. IMHO.
Keep in mind that consumers are not the primary customers of VDS. It is done for the automakers to provide them with data on a wide variety of issues. The consumer data is a by-product and I agree that it is a bit misleading and not all that usefull to the consumer.
Bunter
I agree that initial quality ratings are not that useful — a friend of mine used to be a Ford fan until she made the mistake of keeping one of her vehicles for longer than a two-year lease.
Still, SherbornSean neatly summarized my reaction to DeLorenzo’s attitude.
JDP isn’t exackly the be all end all of consumer ratings anyway. The best use for them is spotting outliers/strange cases (the Legend/Sterling gap would have to be exibit #1). That said it’s the best thing AE has written in months.
Except for those little bits that remind you how remote from reality Motown can get.
“typical three-year ownership period”.
Three years isn’t “typical”, hasn’t been for decades. Three year owners are the golden eggs, the “laserbeamers” of the car world. As said 5 years is a MUCH more reasonable interval to check on.
I always knew that JD Power awards were just some shit for the big three to shove in our faces to act like they are superior to the Japanese. GM’s cars seem to be put together well. Most of them, at least. A friend of mine managed to accidently break one of the AC vents in a Pontiac G5 with no effort, so yeah…..
I live in Detroit, so I feel like I am the only one here who doesn’t have my head up the big three’s ass. I hear from my dad every day about how nice the big three’s cars are and how Toyota is some kind of evil empire. Ford is the only maker that I have any compassion for. I never liked GM, just some of their models, and I just want Chrysler to get bent already. After sitting in their cars at NAIAS, I wondered when Chrysler will just be mercy killed. I like their 90s cars and older, but I think they have just built shit for the past few years. When Chrysler is out of business, I want them to be remembered for the excellent cars they used to build, instead of the shit they build now.
Whatever.
Just get that Bud E. Bryan guy to STFU.
Seriously.
Your guy card is revoked, Bud.
Enough of the relationship shit.
Go write for a chick magazine or something, you mama’s boy.
It’s a car site. About cars. I stopped caring about you and Miss Jolene’s latest argument in 2004. Last thing you wrote worth a shit was a night drive in a Cobra. When was what? 2003?
Now wipe the tears and snot off your face, put on your big boy boots and go test drive something. Stop jumping sharks while you’re at it.