BYD edges out Honda and Mazda
BYD has ranked highest among mass market brands in JD Power’s 2026 Mexico Customer Service Index (CSI) Study, released October 9. No Chinese automaker had done that before. BYD scored 904 on a 1,000-point scale, ahead of Honda (899), which led the segment last year, and Mazda (893).
The wider trend points the same way. Service satisfaction among Chinese-brand owners rose 41 points from last year, and premium and mass market brands are now only 15 points apart.
What the study measures
The CSI covers the dealership service experience, not how good the vehicle is. It weighs service quality (31%), facility (20%), service initiation (18%), service advisor (17%) and vehicle pick-up (15%). JD Power surveyed 6,530 owners of 2023 to 2025 model-year vehicles who had been to an authorized dealer for service in the past 12 months, with fieldwork from December 2025 through August 2026.
Repairs are still the weak spot
Ninety-five percent of Chinese-brand owners said their service was done right the first time. For American, Japanese and South Korean brands it was 98 percent. Three points sounds small, but a repeat repair can undo a lot of goodwill from an otherwise smooth visit.
JD Power Mexico’s Gerardo Gomez put it this way: Chinese brands are making progress but “still have a way to go.” With more cars relying on software updates and specialized repairs, he said, dealers need the capacity and technical skill to keep up.
Electrified owners are driving the gains
Plug-in hybrid satisfaction rose 12 points to 899 and battery-electric satisfaction rose 8 points to 895. Hybrid owners are still the happiest at 909. Gasoline-vehicle satisfaction slipped 2 points to 881. Software updates now rank among the three most common service visits for electrified vehicles, reported by 17% of battery-electric owners, 14% of hybrid owners and 13% of plug-in hybrid owners.
Basic service steps slipped
The three steps with the biggest effect on satisfaction all got worse. Dealers did a walk-around 83% of the time (down 2 points), had the owner’s preferred appointment time available 91% of the time (down 1) and delivered vehicles on schedule 89% of the time (down 2).
Premium segment
GMC led for a second year with 920 points. BMW was second with 906.
Bottom line
BYD has the ranking. Whether it keeps it comes down to dealers fixing cars right the first time, every time.
