Cromax

How old is your car?

matt13b

It is a 2005 model(october). Why is that? Sorry,I mean the Mazda is that old but the damaged Honda is an 03 or o4 model..

ASH8

Thought I would copy this article (Feb 08) from GoAuto...

MAZDA BOSS WANTS TO LEARN FROM AUSTRALIA

Visiting executive says lessons learnt here could apply around the world

By DAVID HASSALL 12 February 2008


MAZDA Australia has been so successful at winning and retaining customers that the company’s second most senior executive globally wants to see for himself how it has been achieved and how it might be applied to other regions.

Australia is Mazda’s fifth-largest market in the world (behind only the US, Japan, Canada and China) and its 22.1 per cent growth last year was one of the best for a mature market.

The company’s success in Australia goes back decades and is founded on strong customer loyalty.

Mazda Motor Corporation executive vice-president Robert Graziano, who is in Australia for the national media launch of the new Mazda6, said there is international interest in what Australia has achieved.

“Australia is one of the leaders in quality of service and customer satisfaction within the Mazda global community and I’m actually here to learn more about how they’ve achieved this,” Mr Graziano told GoAuto.

“I’m keenly interested in discussing with Doug (Dickson – Mazda Australia managing director) his future plans for improvement to help apply this to other regions.

“It is a well-run organisation down here. I believe they have done a tremendous job continuing to build the brand. If you look at the growth they’ve had in the last five or six years, they’ve remained focused on the brand, they’ve remained focused on the customer and I think it’s paying dividends in terms of their growth.

“I’m keen to understand, with a bit more detail, how they’re doing that. It’s really more of an education for me. It’s an opportunity for me to learn.

“It will certainly afford me to ask questions in other markets where they may or may not be doing things that Australia has done. I can ask them, ‘Have you thought about this?’ or ‘Have you talked to Doug in Australia and seen how he runs his CRM (Customer Relationship Management) initiatives?’ – just as I would tell Doug about things that are going on in the US or Europe or Japan.”

Mr Dickson this year celebrates 30 years with Mazda in Australia. Four years ago he succeeded long-running managing director Malcolm Gough – who left to join the Mazda board in Japan – having been national sales manager since 1987.

He has overseen Mazda’s remarkable growth, trebling sales since 2000, and credits his dealer network for the company’s success.

“A lot of them have been with us over what I might say were the bad times in the late-1990s and we’ve learnt together to look after our customers because we didn’t have too many of them, so those that stayed with us over that period developed a very single-minded focus on the customer,” said Mr Dickson.

“We have a very private-market focus and that has done very well for us in terms of customer loyalty. We’ve been doing this for some time so part of our culture is that we do focus on our customers and we look after them well.

“Our group of dealers are very resilient and are able to step up to the mark. We’ve asked them to do certain things and they’re responded – they’ve done the training, they’ve put on the people, they’ve done the facilities.

“Some people say there is one group of people that look after sales and another group over here who will catch up the problems, but the people who make the sales actually have to worry about the customer service – you can’t do it in isolation.”

enforcer

Interesting article Ash...I just wish they practiced what they preach. Whilst they may talk up the corporate lingo, theres still a lot of people who have been burnt by Mazda Australia.

I'll bet you London to a brick Robert Graziano is not aware of a fraction of the RX8club.com and Oz Mazda forum issues....

auzoom

I wonder how much the journo researched what he wrote or did he just take it from the mouth of a company spokesman!

ASH8

Yeah and there always unfortunately will be people burnt by Mazda Australia, I have yet to see the perfect Distributor/Brand because they do not exist..

When you have ANY moving object or machinery including a car they all have issues at times which can put the owner offside.

IMO I still think Mazda does a pretty good job.

enforcer

You're right, no ones perfect and whilst we know there are people in Mazda who do a great job, there are other car dealerships which treat people like ****. If theres one thing which will **** people off its being treated like a second class citizen.

Most forward thinking companies try very hard to build a rapport with their customers to increase loyalty. Dealership managers must turn to their salespeople into building relationships with their clients. In this case, Mazda Australia would expect their dealer principles to do the same. Its not rocket science, and the business strategy makes good common sense.

After buying a house, a car is the mostly the second biggest financial decision we make (unless you've just won lotto). People have a right to expect that they will be treated fairly, honestly and with dignity when they walk into any car dealership. There are several people on this forum who have been treated poorly by Mazda, and it wouldn't take much for them to address those service and vehicle related issues....

Revolver

That's not journalism, that's a paid PR piece to help fill some pages for another second-rate motoring publication. Talk about self-serving crap!

I wonder how many of those loyal customers know about the differential in ordering their parts overseas as compared to simply handing over the credit card at service time. Might test their loyalty somewhat.

Frankly, Mazda Australia have just lucked out in recent years by having a good looking, dynamically sorted product range in growing segments of the market. The product planners will claim the kudos and good luck to them but spare me the crap about dealers looking after their customer base...

auzoom

I am seriously contemplating writing into that magazine and asking them to print this information Dave! Maybe our resident writer (Matt13b) can do it

Revolver

Go for it but I seriously doubt these minor, low-circ rags will print anything that offends their advertising revenue source...

DrGonzo

I voted satisfactory but it's bordering on bad - this is dealership experience though, not Mazda directly.

My car has just come out of warranty and I will not be taking it back.

dag14qb

with condensation in rear light, dealership said they couldnt help me, called mazda america they fixed for free, and now w extended warranty i am happy (my car is certified so it doesnt really affect me)