Iran Khodro Company (IKCO) has improved its customer satisfaction score in the financial year 2022-23 (ended March 20), according to the company’s deputy for quality control.
"The results of the quality and safety evaluation of Iran Khodro’s products, obtained from a customer survey, show many programs and projects in the production chain of this industrial group have come to fruition," Sohrab Barforoushan was also quoted as saying by Donyaye Khodro.
“Ranking first in the field of after-sales services, increasing customer satisfaction with car delivery by 12% and improving the index of car’s condition at the time of delivery by 46% are some of the quality achievements of Iran Khodro in the fiscal 2022-23,” he added.
According to reports published by the Iran Standards and Quality Inspection Company, Iran Khodro achieved a 17% improvement in the product evaluation index last year compared with the year before.
The official noted that with a satisfaction score of 733 in the third quarter of fiscal 2022-23 (Sept. 23-Dec. 21, 2022), the index registered a growth of 69 points compared with the score in the last quarter of fiscal 2021-22.
"The implementation of the special quality guarantee plan for the engine and gearbox of Tara and Haima vehicles within six months of delivery has increased customer satisfaction," he said.
"In addition to receiving 85 standards for all its current products, IKCO is trying to equip all its new products with safety and welfare standards from the initial stage of design by upgrading the existing platforms."
Barforoushan said customers were mostly satisfied with the sale and delivery process of Rana, Peugeot Pars, Haima S5, Haima S7 and Peugeot 2006 in the fourth quarter of last year (Dec. 22, 2022-March 20).
"Customer satisfaction with Samand, Soren, Tara, Haima S5, Rana and Dena Plus Automatic had the highest growth rate,” he said.
According to Mohammad Reza Hadinejad, IKCO’s customer relations manager, the average customer satisfaction with sales services in the Q4 of fiscal 2022-23 was 74.17, registering a 0.3% increase compared to the previous quarter and a 12% increase compared to the same period of last year.
"The main reason behind this increase was the improvement in timely delivery and the notification of sales process, which had a growth rate of 7.3% and 1.6%, respectively," he said.
According to Hadinejad, the average customer satisfaction index with handling their requests and complaints during the quarter hit 60.33, registering a 6.5% increase compared with the same period of last year.
“The average customer satisfaction with after-sales services stood at 73.42 in Q4 of last year, registering a 1.5% increase quarter-on-quarter and 5.7% year-on-year,” he said.
Rise in Factory Prices of Domestic Cars Averages 29%
The factory prices of cars produced by major domestic automakers Iran Khodro and SAIPA have increased by 29% on average, according to the CEO of SAIPA Automotive Group.
“A price increase for domestic cars was last announced in the ninth month of the fiscal 2021-22 [Nov. 22-Dec. 21, 2021],” Mohammad Ali Teymouri was also quoted as saying by IRNA.
“The National Competition Council and the Consumers and Producers Protection Organization determine the prices of cars, which process was launched about five months before the beginning of the current fiscal year [March 21],” he added.
The SAIPA chief noted that the two organizations based the new price changes on the first six-month audit reports of Iran Khodro and SAIPA.
“While the average price hike is 29%, the prices of some products such as SAIPA’s Shahin and QUIK [with automatic transmission] only increased by 18% and 17%, respectively.”
The prices of all domestic cars considered non-competitive by the National Competition Council have increased, which could be seen on the websites of the two domestic automakers.
“A car like Shahin, which has a factory price of 3.04 billion rials [$5,960] and taxes worth 400 million rials [$784], was sold for 3.44 billion rials [$6,744] by the company. Now it faces an 18% increase, or over 540 million rials [$1,058] in the factory price. This still shows a significant gap compared to the market price of about 6.7 billion rials [$13,135],” he said.
According to contracts concluded between car manufacturers and customers, the delivery of cars will be based on the new factory prices.
Teymouri pointed out that the average price increase initially suggested by the council was more than 40%, but after the intervention of First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber, the rate was revised down.
“With the new prices of domestic cars, we hope to achieve a good production this year. We have currently achieved 32% growth in production compared to last year,” he said.
