@Toady i apologize for making the comment about the manufacturer. I relooked at your quote "I worked closely with an established small volume UK car manufacturer" and I asked the wrong question. I should have asked what car manufacturer do you work closely with?
I agree better communication would help but I feel they have been pretty open compared to other car companies. Look at Toyota with diselgate, JLR send cars with downgraded parts. Not communicating with the owner but charging the higher price, or anything Tesla. All these manufacturer lack communication during these times.
Professional courtesy means I won't name names and it is somewhat irrelevant - these are just my opinions, based on personal experience both in the commercial world and as a customer; however, most small scale manufacturers of lifestyle products tend to suffer from similar issues, at least in my experience. I would argue that very few meet or exceed the expectations of the majority of customers, specifically in a post-pandemic world, when it comes to service. Therefore, I am in agreement with your comment with respect to other examples and manufactures; furthermore, I would suggest that the list goes on. Without wishing to sidetrack or digress, the pandemic was the best thing that could have happened to the majority of the automakers - pre pandemic sales were slow, stock was high and it was the typical over supply and under demand. Scroll forward to people sitting idly and not spending income in other areas, thus having (the appearance of) more disposable income, parts shortages, manufacturing freezes and the tables turned (of course there are niche products where demand never slowed but I am talking mainstream products). I'd suggest that tide is now shifting again, as is most often the case but the return to a more balanced market will take time. There are many people who have gotten used to high residual values on used cars and the decline in that will come as a surprise to many, when it should not. Pre-pandemic depreciation of 20-30% in the first 12-months and 50% (or more) in three years was common but many consumers have short memories, especially when justifying a purchase (man logic, although ladies seem no less immune to it!
)
Going back to my original point, there is always going to be (imho) an obstacle to setting realistic expectations at customer level when salespeople are involved. I've watched, first hand, approved dealer (AD) sales teams set totally unrealistic quality expectations because they fear honesty will cost them a sale. Where sales targets and financial incentives are involved, can you blame them? There are logical ways around this but it involves a rethink and new approach. To my mind, Ineos are actually well situated to take this approach but as they are using existing sales channels, this is unlikely to be achievable. Had they more time, and the will, the AD network could have been a fascinating example of a new way of approaching customer and sales.
However, as it stands, given the posts on this forum, and others, as well as personal blogs, vlogs, social media, etc, I would suggest a concerted effort to increase comms to new and existing owners, as well as dealers setting realistic expectations with owners, would be a good start. As I said in my previous post, I have always worked on the ethos that people remember solutions (or lack of them) and not the problem themselves. Take a proactive approach to customer satisfaction, be an example of issues resolution within the industry and a lot of the negatives will rapidly dissipate.