BMW fended off the competition, including Honda, to take their place at the top of the Fleet News reliability survey as the most reliable company car manufacturer.
Fleet News is a sister publication of the well respected car guide, Parker’s, and the annual survey covers 840,000 cars from 50 of the biggest UK contract hire companies.
Manufacturers were graded by counting the number of vehicles on a fleet per 1,000 that broke down.
BMW received the same points as Honda yet more companies voted for BMW as first placed manufacturer.
Reliability is a key factor to consider when purchasing a car and with the results of the Fleet News magazine 2009 top50 results just released it is the perfect opportunity for customers and consumers around the UK to take stock of the situation and make a informed decision about their next purchase and used Honda’s recorded staggering results.
The Japanese and German car manufacturers have come out of the latest survey very well, with the Honda Civic coming out with the top honour of being the most reliable car on the market today. There was even more reason for the Japanese car giant to celebrate with two more of their cars featuring heavily inside the top 5 cars with the Honda Jazz in third place and the Honda Accord scooping fourth place.
Although the German manufacturer’s profits have fallen thanks to this year’s trying economy, the BMW group remain optimistic. Thanks to recent indications of recovery, they are hoping to make a positive turnover by the end of the year across all their brands.
The fall in returns has been blamed on a decrease in consumer spending and has resulted in a loss of 73.8% (down to £70.5 million) with total sales of cars across the BMW group including BMW, Rolls Royce and MINI brands down 15.7% from the year before.
Ok, a Lexus may not appear to be the most exciting cars on the market, although that could all change when the LF-Ch hits the market, but what Lexus has always held above the rest is reliability. Taking this into consideration means that a used Lexus will prove to be a prudent move for second hand buyers.
Owners of approved used Lexus vehicles rarely find problems, as is evident in customer satisfaction surveys, with Lexus at the head of the list for cars between 3-5 years old.
The latest BMW 3 Series emphasises the German motor experts’ intent on producing eco-friendly and economical vehicles that do not compromise on performance.
The BMW 316d saloon encompasses BMW’s award winning EfficientDynamics technology and returns impressive statistics.
With better combined fuel consumption (62.8 mpg) than two of its main rivals – Audi A4 TDIe 136 and Ford Mondeo ECOnetic TDCi 115 – and more eco -friendly, emitting just 118g/km CO2 (just 35 pounds annual road tax), the BMW 316d is set to finish top of the class yet again.
Lexus dealers are set to be in for a busy couple of years as they look to set to push full steam ahead with production of their new premium compact car, the Lexus LF-Ch.
Since unveiling the latest model at the Frankfurt Motor Show to critical acclaim, Lexus dealerships have been inundated with requests for further information on the LF-Ch which won’t be available on the road until 2011.
With a petrol hybrid engine that will emit less than 100/km CO2 and front wheel drive, the LF-Ch represents a new challenge for Lexus who aim to target market share from the Audi A3 and BMW 1 Series.
The motor industry has been struggling against a tide of financial depression over the course of the last year as we all know: Cars continue to back up on fore-courts with customers refusing to part with their hard earned cash, opting instead to save their money until the recession has passed. Even the new scrappage scheme employed by several manufacturers hasn’t worked as well as they had initially hoped.
However, there is some good news coming out of America that sales on certain brands of luxury cars has started to move in a positive direction again. Sales of Lexus cars have been boosted with a 12% gain in the last month.
New images of the Lexus LF-Ch concept car, set to be launched at the Frankfurt Motor Show have been released, and the compact sportsback looks even better than Car Chat had first expected.
Following from the sketches of the concept car, leaked by Lexus a couple of weeks ago, these images of the actual concept car look stunning.
This model will aim to gain Lexus some of the market share in the sportsback sector, to rival the likes of the BMW 1 Series and Audi A3.
This new Lexus model will also be available in full hybrid making it the first fully electric car of its type.
With The Insight becoming the first hybrid vehicle to top the Japanese sales list in April, Honda has recorded rising domestic sales once again in August.
Honda car sales significantly outperformed industry figures, increasing by 13 per cent during the first three weeks in August compared to the same period in 2008.
The Honda Insight has continued to perform strongly gaining significant market share in the Hybrid sector.
Honda increased their global production by 90,000 units in June as sales and pre orders rose considerably as the Japanese Government offered incentives and tax breaks on the purchase of eco-friendly vehicles.
2009 is a celebratory year for MINI having recently commemorated its 50th birthday, and now they are set to enter new territories – the world of the coupe.
BMW has released images of the MINI Coupe Concept that is set to be exhibited at the Frankfurt Motor Show in mid September and this reincarnation of the classic hot hatch looks set to steal the show.
This most iconic of hot hatches will now enter the sports coupe market for the first time in its 50 year history and judging by the images, MINI fever is likely to spread once again, not only through the UK and Europe, but also across the Atlantic and beyond.
Honda have catered for those who wanted a new Civic Type R but couldn’t afford one with the release of the Sport-Si Civic.
The Sport-Si Civic is soon to hit the UK market, starting with a 1.4 litre i-VTEC Si and then the 1.8 i-VTEC Si and 2.2 i-CTDi Si will follow a few months later.
With colour-coded body mouldings, Type R front grille, alloys, dark chrome features, half leather interior and USB connectivity, starting from just 15,800, pounds Honda are sure to be inundated with pre-orders.
Honda dealers are taking orders for the Sport-Si Civic now – click here for more info.
Lexus has unveiled their latest concept car at the Frankfurt Motor Show – a car that they expect to take on BMW’s hugely successful 1 Series.
The Lexus CT concept car is to be a first sportsback for the Toyota subsidiary company. Whereas Lexus have concentrated on the coupe and SUV market they now aim to challenge BMW, Audi and the like and from the initial sketches of the concept car, they could gain significant market share.
This is new ground for Lexus and is set to be well received in Germany, as it is likely to be worldwide.
Honda are to increase their global production following an increase in sales and sales forecasts.
A further 90,000 vehicles will be produced by Honda in response to higher than expected sales in China, India, Thailand and Brazil.
As a result Honda’s net income will increase. This is a significant turnaround for Honda who like so many car manufacturers had been hit hard by the global economic downturn.
This comes on the back of impressive domestic sales, with the Honda Insight becoming one of the fastest selling new cars in Japan.
Just after they decided to withdraw from F1 at the end of this season, BMW announced that they will bring a highly efficient sports concept car to the Frankfurt Motor Show. The EfficientDynamics Vision will be taken to the show in September along with BMW’s production versions of the ActiveHybrid7 and ActiveHybrid X6 concepts that were shown at the show previously.
A member of the BMW management board, Dr Klaus Draeger, said in his statement: ‘the BMW EfficientDrive Vision will demonstrate how efficient a sports car can be.’
The Honda Accord is officially the most reliable car in the UK according to consumer experts Which?
The Accord scored a reliability rate of 98.5 per cent in Which? Magazine’s survey based on more than 84,000 motorists.
And it was a double whammy for Honda as the Honda Jazz came second in the 121 model strong survey based questions regarding breakdowns, faults and servicing.
This is good news for Honda who have suffered indifferent news in the past 12 months having had to close their UK plant in Swindon for four months due to falling sales figures because of the economic downturn and also to safeguard jobs.
