JD Power

French carmaker Peugeot claims to have made a dramatic improvement in the quality and reliability of its latest cars, revealing confidential figures that show its warranty costs are a fraction of what they were a decade ago. In a briefing with media during a recent visit to Australia the global boss of the Peugeot brand, Jean-Philippe Imparato, estimated warranty claims – and the cost of those repairs – had been slashed by two-thirds.

A largely mass-market survey of 3075 recent new car buyers has found almost one-in-five were not entirely happy with how the experience went at their dealer. The study, conducted by market research and analytics firm J.D. Power and called the 2018 Australia Sales Satisfaction Index (SSI), also found about 20 per cent of interviewed buyers and lessees indicated the sales person merely “partially understood” their requirements in the first place.

Lexus has once again topped the JD Power dependability study, narrowly edging Porsche in the well-respected annual survey. The study ranks manufacturers based on problems per 100 cars. Owners of MY2015 cars were surveyed about their vehicles, with any issues grouped into one of eight categories This year, the industry average for problems per 100 cars (PP100) dropped from 156 to 142. Industry improvement aside, this is the seventh time in a row Lexus has come out on top of the survey.

Mercedes-Benz has retained its standing as the best luxury brand for aftersales care in Australia in the 2015 JD Power Customer Service Index (CSI) study. The Stuttgart-based brand backed up its win in last year’s inaugural luxury brands study and boosted its rating on the 1000-point scale to 843 (up 10 points). Rival Audi was the biggest improver in the study, rising 38 points this year to 829 overall, narrowing the gap to Mercedes from 42 points last year to just 14.

Porsche, Kia and Jaguar have come out on top in the 2015 edition of the J.D. Power's Initial Quality Study. Every year, J.D. Power surveys customers over the first 90 days of ownership of their new cars for its Initial Quality Study (IQS). Porsche has come out on of the IQS for the third year running with just 80 problems per hundred vehicles (PP100). Kia took second spot with 86 issues per hundred cars and Jaguar rounded out the podium positions with 93 problems per hundred vehicles.