Toyota rules the roost in survey
QUALITY: 7 000 OWNERS FROM 16 BRANDS TAKE PART
Volkswagen the runner-up, followed by Audi, Isuzu and Honda.
Toyota has improved on its 2016 performance in the latest Ipsos Vehicle Quality Awards. The Ipsos Vehicle Quality Survey (VQS) was conducted throughout South Africa in 2017, involving survey feedback from 7 000 owners of vehicles from 16 brands.
Toyota achieved 13 gold awards from 16 categories. This compares to nine golds in the 2016 survey.
Volkswagen was the runner-up with eight golds in 2017 after collecting four in the 2016 survey.
Other gold award winners in 2017 (with the 2016 score in parentheses) were: Audi five (five), Isuzu three (zero), Honda three (zero), Nissan two (eight), Opel two (one) and Ford two (two).
More than one gold was awarded in categories where two or more vehicles or manufacturers achieved the same score.
Toyota collected seven gold awards in the passenger car category, with Volkswagen and Audi each bagging five, while Honda achieved three, Opel two, and Ford and Nissan one each.
Both Toyota and Volkswagen earned gold for their passenger car manufacturing plants.
Audi won gold for best overall passenger car brand. The brand achieved the best combined score across all models.
Toyota, Opel, Nissan, and Ford shared gold in the best volume passenger car brand category.
Toyota was also the dominant player in the category for light commercial vehicles (LCV), collecting six gold awards to the three of Volkswagen and Isuzu and the one each by Nissan and Ford. In the 2016 survey Nissan won five, Toyota four and Volkswagen one.
The latest survey saw Toyota and Volkswagen each win gold awards for best LCV brand, while Toyota won gold for best LCV manufacturing plant for its assembly facility in Prospecton, which manufactures the Hilux amongst other models.
The Ipsos VQS study calculates a quality score based on customer feedback at about three months after purchase.
Scores reflect proportions of problems and issues reported by these customers, so the lower the score, the better the quality.