(August 10, 2010) Chevrolet finished first among 41 vehicle brands in the 2010 China Customer Service Index study by J.D. Power Asia Pacific. Chevrolet, a brand of Shanghai GM, scored 875 on a 1,000-point scale.

Now in its 10th year, the Power study measures satisfaction among vehicle owners who visit an authorized dealer service department for maintenance or repair work between 12 and 24 months of vehicle ownership, which typically represents a substantial portion of the vehicle warranty period.

Five measures are used to determine overall satisfaction with dealer service: service quality, vehicle pickup, service initiation, service advisor and service facility. Overall satisfaction is reported as an index score based on a 1,000-point scale.

The Chevy finish is potentially significant since China is the now clearly the world’s largest auto market. GM has a growing presence there, and it is locked in a battle with VW Group for sales leadership. Record annual sales of 17 million are expected this year in China, a 25% increase from 2009.

The Chevrolet Sail

Following Chevrolet in the rankings were two Honda ventures, Guangqi Honda (874) and Dongfeng Honda (871); Roewe (869); and Dongfeng Peugeot (864). Roewe is the only China domestic brand to rank among the top five. Dongfeng Peugeot was the most improved brand in 2010, moving to fifth rank position from 16th place in 2009.

The top five brands in 2010 demonstrated improvement in all five factors, compared with 2009, with the most notable increase occurring in satisfaction with service initiation. This was largely driven by a notable increase in the proportion of customers who indicated making appointments to schedule vehicle service, which averagesd 32 percent in 2010, compared with 21 percent in 2009.

While premium brands, collectively, still outperform mass-market brands as a whole (849 vs. 817, respectively), the highest-performing premium brands — Audi and Lexus —tied for sixth place with a score of 861 each. Audi improved notably, from 10th rank position in 2009.

Premium brands have improved in 2010 by eight index points from 2009, compared with a one-index-point improvement by mass market brands.