Used Car Buying Guide: BMW 3 Series
already struggling with declining profits, production costs rise and increased competition from abroad, German carmakers are facing another challenge a number of surveys show some of their cars are less reliable.
It's been a difficult year for many German automakers face increased foreign competition and declining sales, executives are struggling to lower production costs despite fierce opposition from trade unions.
Earlier this month, Volkswagen officials said they would reduce the cost of 2 billion 2 6 billion - 30 percent - over the next seven years in July, DaimlerChrysler threatened to move production in Africa South if its workforce Stuttgart didn t accept a pay cut.
But behind these titles is another story Some German cars, once synonymous with reliability, no longer live up to expectations.
In it is the last survey released in August, the consumer magazine in the UK who gave bad marks VW, put it in the least wrong category, a position he held for two years, Mercedes-Benz, was once the best in the top category has been steadily slipping two notches in the middle class Audi once considered good, is now considered poor, BMW went from good to poor.
Other surveys, including JD Power and Associates in the United States, show results comparable While BMW faired better, with only 264 problems per 1,000 vehicles - above the average 269 of the industry, Audi and Mercedes -Benz, with 295 and 327 respectively 1000 cars problems, scored well below the average Volkswagen, with 386 problems reported by vehicle 1000, was near the bottom of the list.
The reasons for this decline are complex and vary depending on the company and the model in question and experts are quick to point out that all German models filed ratings But they point to some general trends.
Japanese carmakers give Germans a run for their money.
First, they say it is not necessarily just a case of German cars less reliable, it is that they are relatively less reliable than their Japanese competitors, who have raised the bar with some models of up five years without any problems.
Competitors become more reliable, than the Germans get less reliable Graham Whyte, editor of the British company an online guide for new cars, told DW-WORLD.
Richard Headland, principal investigator who has agreed.
Japanese automakers show that it is possible to build cars that are extremely reliable and that the average Brings a whole, he said.
Some automakers upscale, like Mercedes-Benz, the technology has proven to be the Achilles heel In the market for competitive luxury cars, Mercedes-Benz must be above two categories of quality and innovation Ferdinand Duddenhöffer, professor at the Institute Gelsenkirchen automotive economy, says DW-WORLD Unfortunately, in the race to triumph over its competitors, Mercedes may have sacrificed quality.
Like other luxury German car manufacturers, Mercedes incorporated technologically advanced electronic systems developed by so-called first tier suppliers, such as Bosch separate companies that manufacture products such as ABS breaks, electronic management systems engine, GPS navigation devices.
At a time when the average development time of new cars fell by five years to 32 months, supposedly not enough time testing dipping to establish the reliability of these new devices has been allocated to Mercedes-Benz, which seems to have been case with the introduction of the new E-class, a particularly problematic model.
They too are now eager to produce new cars from scratch and under increasing pressure to do more sophisticated models technologically, Whyte said it is the same if you are planning holiday rush, you are obliged of wrong somewhere.
The root of the problem more than mass market manufacturers like VW is a little harder to pinpoint faulty advanced electronics - - a whole industry problem - - may have little to do with, but most models are not nearly as complex as those of, for example, Mercedes-Benz.
They developed taking Seat and Skoda, said Headland which perhaps expansion has put pressure on resources and the internal quality control.
With all cost savings, perhaps it affects their level of production, said Whyte.
However, Duddenhöffer, was not inclined to accept such theories He stressed that VW has always had a strong commitment to quality and continue to do so despite the cost reduction.
Whatever the cause, the German carmakers seek to return to the good graces of their buying public especially in the luxury category, where new cars can cost up to 70 000 consumers demand far , German car manufacturers in this category, such as Mercedes Benz and BMW, have not experienced a decline in sales, but their fortunes could change.
According to Whyte, the executive director of Mercedes-Benz has admitted to Automotive News that the company had added an unproven technology vehicles too quickly, and in the future Mercedes devote more time to test if this is the case it will take a few years to turn around to appear in investigations.
At VW, management will get to the root of the problem, hoping to live in their old slogan If only everything in life was as reliable as Volkswagen.
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