those suggestions by lowpro is good but is always the implementation part that fail.
even ford service center sucks with blur service advisor and never call customer to inform of warranty or spareparts.
i guess lowpro u are in marketing or product planning
you are right. when i was with porsche and saab, i handled both marketing and product planning. you are also right in saying that the implementation part is most difficult. even with a small company like auto eurokars, it was already difficult to keep customers happy. i can only guess how much more difficult it would be for bigger automotive concerns. sad thing is, too many companies spend too little on real customer service. many are just focussed on selling selling selling with no thought of customer retention etc.
in marketing, it is always cheaper to get a repeat customer than a new customer. but to get a repeat customer, that customer must be treated like a king in the first place. i know companies that only know how to sell by discounts and needless to say, they have lost all goodwill from their customers... and also banks who do not dare to finance their products already. as the saying goes, you can only con them once... then they tell 10 more of their friends. right?
for those companies, the come back will be a long and ardous task as overcoming customer rejection will be very much harder. more funds will have to be spent to turn around customer perception and this could have been avoided if they had a proper business model from the start. question is, are they going to go the extra mile to win back that customer?
i know, i'm digressing a little here but i think my thoughts are pertinent to all car companies.