Photo by: Duane Daws
Poor fuel consumption has emerged as the major gripe from customers in the newest Ipsos Quality Survey.
Fuel consumption was the biggest cause for customer complaint in 13 of the 16 vehicle model segments into which Ipsos divides the South Africa market.
Ipsos believes the complaints have been driven by the rapidly increasing fuel price.
Another interesting insight is that there were more complaints about imported passenger cars than those made locally, whereas in the light commercial vehicle (LCV) market it was the other way around, with locally made models receiving more criticism.
Around 70% of vehicles sold in South Africa are imported models.
The Ipsos survey is voluntary, with 17 vehicle brands participating, representing 72% of the new passenger cars and LCVs sold through retail channels in South Africa in 2016.
The Ipsos survey looked at new-vehicle sales, interviewing more than 7 000 owners on gripes about their new vehicles after about 90 days of ownership, not only in terms of defects, but also perceived design flaws.
Combined, this data produced a vehicle quality survey (VQS) score. The lower the score, the better. The score is provided as problems per 100 vehicles (PP100).
The passenger cars with the lowest PP100 in 2016 are the Audi A3 Sportback with a score of 27, followed by the Nissan Micra at 36, and the Audi A3 sedan, also at 36.
At the bottom of the rankings are the Ford B-Max at 101 PP100, and the Datsun Go, at 102 PP100.
The top recreational vehicle is the Audi Q5, at 33 PP100, with the Renault Duster at the bottom of the list, at 102 PP100.
In the LCV category the Toyota Hilux petrol single cab came out tops, at 43 PP100, tied with the Nissan Navara diesel double cab, also at 43 PP100, while the Chevrolet Utility languishes at 136 PP100.