Fast Cars Gear

Archive for July 30th, 2009

Honda Dominates Which? Survey

Japanese car manufacturer Honda shows why it is one of the rising threats to other major carmakers. At this years Which? car reliability survey the Japanese automaker virtually swept all distinctions for different segments. The said car reliability survey was conducted in the United Kingdom and is considered as the biggest survey in the said region. This year almost 100000 respondents were polled.

The Honda Jazz which is known as the Honda Fit in the United Sates Japan China and the rest of North America and South America topped all cars on the survey. An overwhelming 96 percent of the more than 1300 Jazz/Fit owners said that the hatchback rarely lets them down. This made the Jazz/Fit the leading nameplate in its class in terms of reliability.

The Jazz/Fit is not the only vehicle made by Honda with a good reliability according to consumers in the United Kingdom. The Honda Accord with its Honda Accord catalytic converter was tied with the BMW 3 Series and the Toyota Avensis for the top honors on the large car category. All these three nameplates received favorable comments from 94 percent of the polled owners of the said nameplates.

For the Multi Purpose Vehicle or MPV category the Honda FRV received 91 percent favorable votes from the polled owners. The MPV from the Japanese automaker is also the only minivan in the European auto market with a 33 seating configuration apart from the Fiat Multipla.

The previous generation of the compact sports utility vehicle CRV also received favorable results as it topped the offroader segment. The CRV shared the honors with the Toyota RAV4 which is considered as its toughest competition in the market.

Aside from these winners the car survey conducted by the subscriptiononly magazine and website includes Asian and European nameplates. For the luxury car segment the most reliable car according to the respondents of the survey is the Audi A6 with a 91 percent approval rate. For the MINIMPV segment the Nissan Note topped its competition by registering 94 percent of approval rate from its users.

For sports cars respondents of the survey singled out the Mazda MX5 as the most reliable of the lot. The agile roadster from the Asian carmaker received a 94 percent approval rate from consumers.

Although Honda practically swept the survey one disappointing result is that of the Honda Civic. The newest version of the Honda Civic only received an 82 percent approval rate from respondents owning the latest Civic. According to consumers the newest Honda Civic has issues concerning its fuel system steering and suspension as well.

According to Which? the least reliable nameplate today is the Land Rover Discovery 3. The said nameplate only received 79 percent approval rate from respondents. The reliability or lack thereof of the Land Rover would surely hurt its stocks as Ford is now looking to auction off the British brand.

Aside from the Land Rover Discovery 3 and the Honda Civic other nameplates which performed poorly in the reliability survey are the Volkswagen Passat the Peugeot 307 and the Renault Megane. All of these received nod from only 82 percent of its respective owners.

According to Which? these are the cars that they would recommend for their reliability: the Honda Jazz Mazda 2 Toyota Yaris BMW 1Series Mazda 3 Volkswagen Golf BMW 3Series Honda Accord Lexus IS Toyota Prius Audi A6 Jaguar XJ Lexus GS Nissan Note Renault Modus Ford SMax Honda FRV Toyota Verso Mazda MX5 and the Volkswagen Eos.

About the writer:  Anthony Fontanelle is a 35yearold automotive buff who grew up in the Windy City. He does freelance work for an automotive magazine when he is not busy customizing cars in his shop.

Volvo Plans To Expand Equipment Business In India

The Swedish company known for its safe cars and reliable trucks has recently announced that they will be expanding their presence in India. This announcement is not connected to the automobile market but the commercial equipment market. The company is planning to produce construction equipments and road development machines in India.

The announcement came after the second largest truck and bus manufacturer in the world acquired Ingersoll Rands road construction equipment division recently. Volvo acquired the division for 1.3 billion from the diversified industrial firm. The division has an assembly facility in Bangalore India and this is where Volvo is planning to manufacture their products.

Eric Leblanc the managing director of Volvo India Private Limited announced that the manufacturing facility will be producing Volvobranded equipments in the near future. Equipments initially pointed out by Volvo to be manufactured at the said facility are excavators and loaders. These equipments will be sold in the Indian market.

Leblanc also pointed out that they are in the process of fusing the operation of the IR division and their own. When the process is completed it is expected that the manufacturing plant will be producing Volvobranded equipments.

We have completed the acquisition transaction globally a month ago and are currently integrating the sales and distribution of road machinery business of IR with Volvo said Leblanc. We do intend to use their plant to produce other global construction equipment products in India.

Leblanc claimed that the presence of an engineering base in India will cut down the price of equipments they are planning to market in the country. The engineering base will also help Volvo increase its presence in India while at the same time giving them a head start in coping with the local employees. The brand Volvo will be used on equipments that will be produced by the Ingersoll Rand manufacturing facility.

Over the next 12 months we will launch new range of products. We already have road development machines in our portfolio like motor graders which will be further expanded said Leblanc. This shows Volvos dedication to expanding their presence in the Asian country.

Aside from the planned excavators and loaders Volvo is also thinking about the development and production of heavy road construction equipments and other road making machineries. The expansion of their offering in the Indian market will increase their share of the market. Currently Volvo has a 13 percent share in the excavator range market. The company has sold 800 machines like excavators wheel loaders and graders which amounted to about 100 million. With the increase in production capacity Volvo looks to produce and sell more equipment such as that in the country resulting to higher profits.

Right now we don’t have any production capacity for excavators in India. We import excavators from Volvo’s Korean plant and sell in India. We are looking to manufacture excavators in India but as of now no decision has been taken in this regard. There is a potential to make them in India said Leblanc. It is also expected that Volvo will offer discount Volvo parts for their trucks in India.

The company is expecting that the demand for vehicles that they will produce will increase as the Indian government focus on infrastructure projects. For now the Swedish company estimates that the road construction equipment market all over the world is worth 4 billion per year.

About the writer:  Glady Reign is a 32 year old is a consultant for an automotive firm based in Detroit Mi. she is a native of the motor city and grew up around cars hence her expertise in the automotive field.