GM Aims for Improved Product Quality, Service
General Motors wants your money, but it wants you to feel good about handing it over which is why the car giant combined its product quality and customer experience organizations under one leader: Alicia Boler-Davis.
“Combining customer experience and product quality allows us to infuse the voice of the customer into the way we design our vehicles so they exceed expectations in initial quality and long-term reliability while providing industry-leading customer care excellence that creates life-long customers,” Boler-Davis said.
Much more than a shift in office politics, the move includes a long list of changes that reach deep into GM’s structure including 88 percent of its dealerships undergoing renovations. GM is also adding at least one “certified technology expert” to every dealership’s staff to help customers learn about quickly-evolving car technology. The list goes on and includes a beefed-up social media squad to provide improved engagement online.
But quality is about more than the customer experience, which for the most part is over after someone leaves the showroom. General Motors also says it is gathering consumer feedback on new models earlier to better allow for suggestion integration into production. It’s stamping, powertrain and assembly plants are also being held to a higher standard.
If the strategy pays off, GM loyalists and newcomers could enjoy higher quality vehicles — something that has been a sticking point in recent decades fraught with flawed cars.
Luke is an energetic automotive journalist who spends his time covering industry news and crawling the internet for the latest breaking story. When he isn't in the office, Luke can be found obsessively browsing used car listings, drinking scotch at his favorite bar and dreaming of what to drive next, though the list grows a lot faster than his bank account. He's always on <A title="@lukevandezande on Twitter" href="http://twitter.com/lukevandezande">Twitter</A> looking for a good car conversation. Find Luke on <A title="@lukevandezande on Twitter" href="http://twitter.com/lukevandezande">Twitter</A> and <A title="Luke on Google+" href="http://plus.google.com/112531385961538774338?rel=author">Google+</A>.
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