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(EMAILWIRE.COM, February 07, 2012 ) Recent data released from Warranty Direct seems to indicate that numerous slips on the part of American and German automakers resulted in newer models of cars being generally less reliable than the models they replaced.
Based on repair and warranty information from more than 55,000 vehicles, the worst offender was Jaguar's XJ series which underwent a major overhaul in 2003 that resulted in the model becoming 60% more likely to have repair issues. Other automobiles on the declining reliability list include the Ford Fiesta, Porsche Boxster, and Audi A4.
Although the findings lead some to question whether or not automakers are purposely making newer models less reliable than the ones they replace, this doesn't seem very likely. For one thing, what could they hope to gain, in a world market dominated by reliable, well-built cars, by producing cars that would purposely be less reliable? Wouldn't the devaluation of the brand name be far more expensive than any possible potential profits brought in from servicing?
Besides the question of purposely dirtying one's one brand name, it's hard to see how any automaker would benefit from additional service to their models anyway. The only profit automobile manufacturers make is when a new car is sold; servicing and even parts are generally a very small part of the income stream for these companies. Most automakers have no part in repair costs at all, since replacement parts are made by third-party manufacturers.
What is interesting is that none of the Japanese or Korean automakers were on the list at all. Jeep, BMW, Volkswagen, Renault, even Mercedes-Benz each had an entry into the less-reliable list, but not Toyota, Nissan, or Honda. Although newer brands such as Hyundai and Kia may not have had the previous models to compare with, smart consumers are willing to bet that they won't show up on this list anytime soon.
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Source: EmailWire.com
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