04 March 2019

Kia has topped the latest NFDA Dealer Attitude Survey for the fourth time in a row with Toyota and Mercedes taking equal second place in the all-important overall manufacturer rating question. Mercedes was also the fastest riser in the January 2019 survey after a large fall in the August 2018 results.

The fastest falling brand was BMW with a drop of 1.6 points to end up placed sixth from last. The drop continues a downward trend for the German manufacturer which was placed second best only three years ago.

One retailer that spoke to Auto Retail Agenda about BMW’s poor performance blamed the drop in the level of “push to register” cars that was impacting profitability.

The bottom three places were taken by Citroen, in 30^th, Jeep in 29^th and Alfa Romeo in 28^th place.

However, despite being in the bottom three, Alfa Romeo was the second biggest improver in terms of score, which increased from 2.1 to 3.5 in the out-of-10 system.

The overall average score also rose in the January 2019 Dealer Attitude Survey to hit 5.8, up from 5.7 in August 2018.

Commenting on the results Sue Robinson, NFDA Director, said: “Positively, the steady upward movement of the average dealer satisfaction levels, which started 12 months ago, is continuing. In particular, retailers showed satisfaction with the sales of used cars and with their manufacturers’ used car programmes, reflecting the buoyancy of the sector.”

Tags: BMW, Citroen, Kia, Mercedes, NFDA, NFDA dealer attitude survey, Toyota