Following on from last post:
Quoted from Mike Rutherford of Auto Express: VOLKSWAGEN is in grave danger of losing the plot. The legendary brand used to symbolise great build quality, durability and reliability. But a newly-published motor industry study of 800,000 cars suggests that, temporarily at least, the wheels are falling off at VW.
Ive suspected for months that its cars arent built like they used to be. I get regular complaints from readers, radio listeners and friends about recently purchased Volkswagens which leave them stranded alarmingly often. Now the massive and highly respected FN50 Reliability Survey has confirmed my fears. According to cold data supplied by experts in the car rental, contract hire and leasing business, the quality of the VW product appears to be in decline.
Exactly one year ago Volkswagen was ranked number one in the highly competitive FN50 league of the most reliable manufacturers in the world. Now the company has not only lost its leader status but has been booted out of the top 10 altogether. And it gets worse. This time last year the VW Golf jointly held the number one position in the most reliable cars table. Again, 12 months on, the iconic family hatchback has kissed goodbye to a top 10 place.
Sister company Audi isnt off the hook either. It was third most reliable manufacturer in 2002 but slumped to ninth place this year, behind the likes of Ford and way behind rival German firms Mercedes and BMW. And after the Audi A4 was joint winner of the most reliable car prize in 2002, this year it isnt even in the top 10. The VW Passat has also suffered in the latest FN50 survey. Exactly why VW and, to a lesser extent Audi, are in this mess is not entirely clear.
Some petrol-engined VW Group products did have problems with ignition coils in recent months and the corporation did, to its credit, embark on a massive and expensive recall campaign. But since diesel cars feature so heavily in the rental, contract hire and leasing business its hard to imagine that the ignition coil faults are the sole reason for the decline.
Matters are made worse by the fact that there is much shoulder-shrugging but precious little explanation coming from the companies when their cars fail to live up to expectations. One theory is that the VW Group put so much time, effort and money into fast-improving daughter companies such as Skoda and Seat that it took its eye off the ball as far as Volkswagen and Audi are concerned.
