JAC prioritising customer feedback

JAC Motors Australia’s technical and training manager Matt McCroarey has identified listening to consumer feedback as a key focus point for the Chinese brand in the Australian market moving forward with regards to implementing new features and speed to resolution.

Speaking with GoAuto at a recent media event, Mr McCroarey said the brand listens to and responds to both its consumer’s suggestions and legitimate technical concerns.

“From a consumer side, we get a mix of reviews, feedback,” he said. “Some people raise concerns with the vehicles that we proactively try and resolve. Others say ‘here's a handy feature that we think would be great’, and we take that information back on board and we take it to the factory to try and build into future enhancement programs.”

When asked what features JAC’s buyers are calling for, Mr McCroarey said many customers are calling for the implementation of a “one-touch” ADAS preset option, seemingly similar to Renault’s ‘My Safety Perso’ button or MG’s ‘Pilot Custom' feature. 

“Look, there's a lot of call around ADAS functions, and a lot of people want to turn certain functions off, certain functions on. So we're looking at how we can optimise that in both the Hunter as well as our T9 Diesel.”

“Ideally, (a one-touch preset option) would be how we'd like to go…The development in that takes a little bit longer, so for now, it's a step-by-step approach. How do we make it more accessible and easier to navigate through a quick menu? Or do we have that preset program button that we can build quickly and efficiently? I want my road sign recognition turned off, and I want my driver monitoring turned off only. I just press one button, and away we go. So these are all things that we're planning and seeing the feasibility of.”

When it comes to actual technical issues that have needed addressing, JAC dealers have flagged oil leaks and DPF issues, but according to Mr McCroarey, these issues have already been addressed by the brand.

“So we've seen a few concerns from consumers. A couple of oil leaks, which have already been addressed and identified. We've seen a few DPF issues, which again have been identified and addressed into production or local fixes.”

“Overall, they are minor little bits and pieces that we pick up on, and it's just trying to refine that product more and more as we move through.”

Mr McCroarey – who joined JAC Motors Australia in February of this year following a one year and eight-month stint at Chinese luxury brand Zeekr – said speed to resolution and listening to consumers are his “number one” priority in his role moving forward.

“With regards to my role, I'm going to obviously focus more on speed to resolution, listening to our consumers, they are obviously the number one. We need to take their feedback, and we need to take it seriously, and we need to be proactive.”

“In my short time that I've been with the business, we've identified that we have some very strong advocates out there, and they are generally the ones that can propel us forward with the right ideas and the right momentum to broaden our spectrum and give that benefit to the wider consumer base.”

According to Mr McCroarey, these advocates are particularly active on social media, channels that JAC Motors Australia follows closely.

“(Our advocates) are customers, and obviously social media is a massive thing in this day and age. We see commentary come through various different ownership groups and Facebook posts, Instagram posts, but we've also been contacted directly from some customers that said ‘great job! Really appreciate the proactive work. Loving the car. I’ve just done 20,000 kilometres. It hasn't missed a beat.’ So, various different channels, but we try and monitor as much as we possibly can.”

JAC isn’t the only Chinese brand making moves to put its customers first…

Earlier this year, the Australian director of aftersales for fellow compatriot brand GAC told GoAuto that the Chinese marque had learned from the mistakes of other new market entrants when it comes to aftersales support.

In 2023, EV Direct – the then distributor for Chinese new energy vehicle brand BYD – CEO Luke Todd said it was “quickly rectifying” customer issues when it came to servicing and aftersales care.

With regards to JAC’s own strategy, Mr McCroarey said that a “future program” is currently in the works to improve on the brand’s proactive responses.

“During my time with the organisation, they've really taken on a proactive approach now, understanding that you can have a brilliant product, but when things go wrong, you need to be proactive and it's speed to action.”

“(The brand needs to answer) how quickly can I acknowledge this? How quickly can I resolve the scenario and build those future enhancements? And that's what we're working on now. There's a future program being developed that I'm starting to kick off, and we'll see some fruit come out of that in probably the next three to six months. We're looking at sort of engaging more with our consumers. That's my goal to get information from the horse's mouth.”

JAC recently launched its new Hunter Plug-in Hybrid ute in the Australian market, joining its local line-up alongside the closely-related, diesel-powered T9 ute.

Looking at the brand’s potential plans beyond listening to consumer concerns, GoAuto understands the Ford Everest-rivalling JS9, as well as a yet-to-be-unveiled SUV model are also on the cards for a local launch.