Buying a new car often comes with the frustration of discovering a defect. The owner must return the vehicle to the dealer and wait while the issue is diagnosed and repaired, coordinating schedules and service time along the way.
In this context, the 2022 survey from the Cote d’amour des constructeurs asked dealers to report the number of after-sales returns tied to manufacturing defects. The average response was 5.86 out of 10, up from 5.18 in 2021. These figures provide a snapshot of how often factory issues surface and how quickly manufacturers address them.
The 2022 winner in the defect stakes was Volvo, maintaining a solid 8.28 points. The Swedish brand, now under Chinese ownership through Yellow ahead of last year’s leader, Suzuki, saw a slight drop from 8.46 to 8.15 points. Toyota and Honda rounded out the top four, reflecting the generally strong reliability record associated with Japanese automakers. Still, exceptions exist—Nissan and Mazda ranked 12th and 13th, respectively, signaling that even trusted brands can vary across model lines and production cycles.
Jaguar Land Rover, controlled by India’s Tata Motors and frequently scrutinized for reliability, scored a low 1.86 and finished at the bottom of the table. Renault trailed behind its more affordable subsidiary Dacia, recording 6.44 points. The French edition of Largus suggested that Volkswagen’s reputation for reliability did not translate into a high score in this survey, with Seat and Skoda posting above-average results while VW itself managed only 5.02 points. Audi scored 5, underscoring a performance that lags behind rivals like BMW and Mercedes-Benz in this particular assessment.
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