Holden & Ford Fail Quality Test, Says New Survey

[SlickHolden]

Top secret! The quality survey every car buyer must see

Richard Blackburn, The Sydney Morning Herald, 11/05/07

The results of an independent quality survey conducted every six months for car makers have never been made public. Until now. RICHARD BLACKBURN reports in this Drive exclusive.

European and Australian cars consistently lag behind their Asian competitors in quality, according to confidential industry figures obtained by the Herald.

The Australian New Car Buyer Survey, carried out on behalf of the industry by respected researcher ACNielsen, shows that the locally designed and built Holden Commodore and Ford Falcon have more faults in the first five months of ownership than their competitors in the large-car class, the Japanese-built Nissan Maxima and the Korean-built Hyundai Grandeur.

Half of all Falcon owners - and almost the same number of Commodore owners - will have a fault in their vehicle in their first five months of ownership, the survey reveals. But owners of a Mazda, Suzuki, Honda and Nissan are likely to be delighted with their purchase with lower than average fault rates.

The figures obtained by the Herald cover the period from January to June 2006. The Commodore figures tally with the experience of the Drive team, which found quality issues with the majority of the new VE models we tested. In Australia, the ACNielsen New Car Buyer Survey is carried out every six months and car companies share quality information with each other on the proviso that no one publishes the results.

The top 10 brands in Australia -which together make up almost 85 per cent of the market - all pay for the service, which is believed to cost each of them about $250,000 a year. Prestige brands, with the notable exception of Mercedes-Benz, subscribe to a separate survey that doesn't include quality figures (see separate story).

The figures confirm similar surveys overseas, which have shown that US- and European-built cars largely lag behind Korean and Japanese cars on quality. They also reinforce the results of a recent Roy Morgan Research survey on customer satisfaction for nine of the country's biggest brands, in which Holden, Mitsubishi and Ford were ranked in the bottom three places. But in addition to measuring actual vehicle faults the ACNielsen survey also measures customer satisfaction and their perception of quality. In this regard, the survey shows that while fault levels may be higher than expected, this does not mean customers are unhappy.

For example, some Volkswagen models recorded a higher than average number of actual faults but figures from another part of the survey show customer satisfaction is high. ''We are very happy with our customers' perception of the quality of our brand,'' says Volkswagen Australia spokesman Matthew Wiesner. He says there are pros and cons of making the data available to the public. ''I don't think showing customers the figures is necessarily going to improve quality. We do that anyway.''

:More below follow the link:
http://www.drive.com.au/Editorial/Ar...eID=39115&vf=2

Interesting thing is holden and ford are not alone, There European mates aren't much if any better.. Maybe it's time we all started to think Japanese build quality??.

[fpv_gtho]

It seems theres confusion over whether the Camry is a large or medium sized car Most likely they meant to put Aurion under large...

[Monty_Burns]

Japs certainly making everyone else look pretty average.....not a good look for Ford being at/near the bottom in all segments there. Interesting to see VW at the bottom of 3 of the segments.

[charged]

Surprising the Falcon rates so low seeing the BA/BF are at the end of their model cycle and suprised the Commodore rated better than the Falcon seeing its a new model.

Glad the Prado polled well, seeing that will probably be in the driveway when I get another car

[SlickHolden]

Is it fair to rate a car on 6 months only??, I'm sure in 12 months to 10 years Ford and Holden would get back some large ground.. Still we rate ourselves on European looks and quality's and we seem to be on par with that.
A guy on the GMinsiders forum was scared the VE would come with problems to the U.S he hopped they fixed these problems before it came, I told him " Problems and all it's build quality is still above GM U.S standards'

[Falcon500]

What a crock. Theres alot of cars there that I know are shit and many that rated well early have poor longevity (as slick pointed out) mitsu outlandish top of the light 4x4 list that made me laugh and vectra getting a 50% rateing Its more then that and theres a 100% chance of major mechnaical and computer woes in the near future of ALL them. And subaru wrxs and sti version to this day are takeing off fast and leaving their gearboxes behind.....

They seem to only caputre bit and peices of the market I noticed some very unpopular euro cars in there but none of the more popular models (ie renault megane) and fancy VW bottoming most lists (and even a reverse podium in the med cars)

Now here something I dont beleive either the adventra being the most unreliable car on the study? I call B/S to that ive been selling parts for them for years and while they may be slow,unnecconmoical and handle like a boat but they ahure as shit do one thing well (unless you take them off road) and thats hold together.

And you used an oxymoron slick you said build standards and GM US int he same sentance

Some neat stats but for the most part I call B/S

[henk4]

looking at the position of the VWs I can only laugh. Either these are made in Australia, or the quality standards in Oz differ completely from what we are used to....

[Falcon500]

the defintly arnt made here. I ofetn dispute our journalists here I blame them for these relusts not the cars.

[Ferrer]

Originally Posted by henk4

looking at the position of the VWs I can only laugh. Either these are made in Australia, or the quality standards in Oz differ completely from what we are used to....

German engineering is just a myth. We should all buy Alfa Romeos from now on...

[Turbo.Jenkens]

This isn't the first time I've seen Volkswagen's build quality questioned. I cannot speak for European or Australian Volkswagens, but all models sold in the US with the exception of Passat and Phaeton are built in Mexico. German engineering isn't a myth, instead Mexican engineering is a joke.

[nota]

For me what is most interesting about the veedubs is they were rated woefully for 'subjective quality' yet had high 'perceived quality'

Thats a dichotomy if ever I heard one. Personally I think there's a lot to be disseminated from blatant contradictions like this, re ownership perceptions vs ownership realities

Number one on my list would be that these amateur-derived verdicts of quality ratings via 'customer satisfaction' surveys should be regarded as belonging in the gobbledygook category of spin. In other words there can obviously be a veritable gulf between subjective fact and perceptive delusion

So if you want a genuine indication of product quality as regards reliability you're better off ignoring the owner's ego and instead just stick to the bald facts on breakdowns and warranty claims

[bypopulardemand]

Originally Posted by Falcon500

And subaru wrxs and sti version to this day are takeing off fast and leaving their gearboxes behind.....

now there is some total and utter BS

[Falcon500]

Originally Posted by bypopulardemand

now there is some total and utter BS

Ok ill bite What proof do you have they dont? You have proven several times by adding 4 odd word posts that you either like to say very little or know very little and never add anything in the process!

Ok now you post your proof and ill post mine.

Nows your chance son now either put up or shut up

[clutch-monkey]

to be fair i've never seen problems with the STi transmissions but the WRX ones are piss weak.

[Falcon500]

Originally Posted by clutch-monkey

to be fair i've never seen problems with the STi transmissions but the WRX ones are piss weak.

They arnt as much of a problem now that they have switched to the 6 speeder but they still arnt the strongest box. I know one case where hes already had several problems and ive got some good friends who work at our local STI dealer (rolfe group) so if he wants to trash talk hes welcome to