Consumers Still Wary of GM Quality

Chevrolet Vehicles (Credit: © General Motors)

It’s no small task General Motors has been pulling off lately, managing so many recalls that literally nobody can keep them all straight in their head, while at the same time producing award-winning vehicles and even convincing the public in general that it has changed fundamentally since the days of its notorious bankruptcy and government bailout. Despite all of this, consumers are still wary of the quality of the vehicles produced by GM, at least according to a survey that was recently published by Kelley Blue Book’s KBB.com.

According to KBB.com, about half of the people who responded to a survey on the site said that they look at GM as having turned into a different company in the past few years. Those who are unsure about whether the automaker has really changed or not totaled 26 percent of the respondents, while 24 percent say that nothing about the company has actually changed. But when asked about the quality of the products GM is making, only 39 percent said that the automaker’s products have gotten better during the past five years. Those who aren’t sure if the new GM products are of better quality than before made up 29 percent of those who responded, while 32 percent think that GM hasn’t changed in any significant ways.

It’s likely that the biggest thing standing in GM’s way of gaining more trust from consumers when it comes to product quality is the notorious ignition switch recall, which has been covered extensively by the mainstream media. Of course, KBB.com also found that more than a quarter of the respondents said they believe that GM has been acting proactively during the recalls.

Do these results signal an upcoming sales surge for General Motors?