German cars reliability suffers

Thursday, 7 August 2003 12:00 AM

A consumer survey has found a significant fall in the reliability of German made cars

German cars have a long standing reputation for excellence and reliability, but a survey by the consumer group 'Which?' suggests that they no longer attain the highest standards.

The survey compiled detailed information from owners of 32, 926 cars, and placed each brand into a classification of reliability. These range from 'poor' to 'best'.

But after years of German manufactured cars achieving high ratings in the annual survey, Mercedes was the only European brand in the 'best' category last year, and it fell further than any other this year to 'average'.

German cars have also hit new lows for recent years, with Volkswagen becoming the first German car company for several years to be rated in the 'poor' category, undermining the advertising slogan 'If only everything in life was as reliable as a Volkswagen'.

While European cars slip, American owned Ford has shown gradual improvements in recent years. Ford was rated 'poor' for several years until the 2001 survey where it rose to the 'average' category.

The new survey has seen the Ford brand build on that success, edging into the 'good' category, although its Volvo brand has slipped to 'poor'.

But while European brands suffer in the tables, Asian ones dominate. Japanese firms such as Honda, Mazda, and Toyota are listed in the best category, and Hyundai Nissan have joined the top table in this year's survey.

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