J.D. Power ranks Mercedes-Benz #1 for customer retention

That's customer retention, not retentive customers, though Mercedes-Benz could be said to enjoy both. J.D. Power and Associates has been indexing customer retention for seven years, and Mercedes-Benz tops the list in 2009. Power measures how many vehicle buyers are replacing an older model from the same brand, and Mercedes-Benz's 67-percent retention rate tops all others, including the usual suspects, Honda and Toyota.

What's resonating with customers are resale value and quality. Even used Mercs are spendy, but they all ooze an air of quality. Ingot-solid platforms and the fine sheen of obsessively-perfected engineering seem to convince buyers that the cars will last forever and are of the highest quality. Why said customers might then trade a car with such inherent awesomeness, which is built to withstand all manner of circumstances, is another story entirely, but Mercedes-Benz's first-place finish this year caps a five-year run of increasing numbers, culminating with this year's best-ever 67 percent, the highest the Power study has measured.

[Source: J.D. Power]

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