Defining Perceived Quality in the Automotive Industry: An Engineering Approach

Perceived quality is one of the most important factors underlying success of car manufacturers today. There is a significant amount of literature regarding perceived quality from a marketing research perspective, applied psychology and consumer research. From an engineering viewpoint, perceived quality is represented in the literature mainly by the work that assesses different aspects of perceived quality in order to evaluate them in the early design stages. As a result of this no theoretical framework has yet been compiled that combines customer view on perceived quality and the engineering prospects of this broad term. Consequently, terms regarding perceived quality components and elements often have multiple meanings or meanings similar to each other. There is a need to standardize the terminology and definitions related to perceived quality more concretely. This paper presents the basis of a theoretical framework in an attempt to build a model, including different aspects of perceived quality regarding automotive industry needs. Based on the literature review and industry examples, the authors propose a common terminology and perceived quality definition in the field of the automotive industry.