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Tesla Tops All In Customer Loyalty

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Surprised?

Some brands are well known for their customer loyalty. Subaru customers, for instance, are famously devoted and, according to Autoline host Sean McElroy (forward to the 3:31-minute mark) who cites a report from Experian Automotive, 72.1 percent return to that brand when it’s time to get a new vehicle. That’s just high enough to edge out Ford, who sees 72 percent of its customers return to the Blue Oval. Despite these high customer retention numbers, they don’t have anything on the industry leader in this metric. Tesla beats them all and it’s not even close.

McElroy says, “Over 80 percent of people who buy a Tesla, go back and buy another one.” While it’s obvious there’s is a great advantage to having so many owners return to the big electric T — the precise figure is 80.5 percent — McElroy points out that, for traditional companies, at least, there is another reason to celebrate this kind of loyalty: advertising expense. To get new customers, the established automakers spend a lot of money on ads and other things to convince consumers to darken their doorways.

The California automaker famously doesn’t buy ads. You won’t see a Model X during half-time of the Superbowl, for instance. At least, not on Tesla’s dime. Instead, they rely on giving customers a positive experience. There are no intense sales pitches from staff in their stores. For many issues, Tesla service can come to the customer rather than the other way around. And then there are the vehicles.

Not only do Tesla owners enjoy the experience of an electric drivetrain, but the software in the cars is constantly improved, sometimes dramatically. For free. This is something that company CEO Elon Musk contends is responsible for the value retention of its vehicles. Said he on Twitter recently (embedded below) “Continuous, free over-the-air software updates is a big part of why a Tesla retains so much value over time.”

Of course, being a human endeavor, the California automaker is not perfect, but as these numbers show, it’s definitely doing something right.



True, but this will improve dramatically over next several months & all Tesla cars ever produced (except early Roadsters) will get improvements for free. Continuous, free over-the-air software updates is a big part of why a Tesla retains so much value over time.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 17, 2018





Source: Autoline via YouTube

This article originally appeared on Inside EVs.



 
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What is wrong with the other 19.5%?

I was expecting 95% plus.
It's likely to go much lower fairly quickly as Tesla is selling to more people but as a company they are not ready for prime time. Notice that a couple of years ago the customer loyalty was above 90%. The "fails fast" California tech startup model doesn't work for mass car market, it requires patient and forgiving customers (so what that some Model 3's lost rear bumpers in heavy rain right, as long as they fix them right? so what that a large number of people lost safety features like EAB this past week, who cares about a few accidents, as long as the features come back soon, right?). Elon has been asking for an increasing amount of forgiveness as he fails to deliver on promises he made in the past.

I am an early adopter. My wife is more of a "mass market" customer. Today she got stranded for the second time in a month in her 8 month old Model S because the trunk just wouldn't latch. We had a mobile tech come out, but Tesla doesn't give them any parts so they've been on order for a week now. Toyota, Lexus, or Porsche I've driven in the past would have had a faulty latch fixed same day. Service appointments are now more than a month out if you need service, don't even dream of a loaner and Elon's "Everyone will get a P100D loaner" promise is laughable at best - that is what Elon would like the public to think of course.

When my wife got home, she summed it up really well - "I drove a freaking Toyota van for 15 years and all I did was put gas in it!" and she was right. This is her second new Tesla and in 2 years of driving one she's seen the service center more than she's seen Toyota repairs in 15 years! Tesla is not ready for mass market - this includes production quality, service capacity, parts capacity, supercharger capacity, software reliability and testing, etc. Elon is great at hype, but once the curtain is lifted, he'll be running from a crown with pitchforks.
 
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Tesla will improve, it has to. I don't own a Tesla yet but most likely in another year. I don't think Elon anticipated such a following and demand for service and parts. I'm surprised about the Supercharger network, obviously that need was anticipated.

Having owned several BMWs in the past the cars spent more time in the service bays than it did at my house. I can relate to that.
 
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