Car Leasing News

Hyundai

When the Germans think of a quality car, Autobild, the leading German motoring magazine has found that only one name comes to mind and that’s Hyundai. They awarded Hyundai the honour of first-place in its annual Autobild Quality Report for 2010 eclipsing Toyota, BMW and Audi.

Autobild evaluates seven criteria, including feedback from 9,278 owners, manufacturer warranty provisioning, recall information and data from over 7.5 million vehicle inspections (from Germany’s Technische Uberwachung Verein report -TUV).  This accolade follows the Hyundai i30 being voted by Which? consumer guide magazine readers as Britains’ most reliable medium sized car. Hyundai contract hire prices on the i30 are available now.

Mazda tops Customer Service

Every six months, the Institute of Customer Service asks 26,000 people (twice a year) what they think about the service levels they received from the UK’s major companies and then collates the information into the UK Customer Satisfaction Index (UKCSI).

Mazda has once again come top scoring 80.6% satisfaction, which is five points above the overall UK average. The top five results in the car manufacturer part of the survey are as follows;

1. Mazda 80.6%
2. Honda - 80.3%
3. BMW/MINI – 80.2%
4. Toyota -79.6%
5. Mercedes-Benz -79.0%

Mazda was ahead of the overall manufacturer car company average and the highest score in any sector was 88% for both Waitrose and John Lewis. The twice-yearly survey covers more than 150 companies in the retail, financial, tourism, telecoms, transport and automotive sector.

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Volkswagen Polo at 91g/km CO2 is a low CO2 car

Clean Green Cars has found that in the second quarter of 2010, average CO2 emitted by new cars was 145.1g/km, compared to 145.6g/km of CO2 in the first quarter. In May and June the actual figures edged back and up and the end of the car scrappage scheme has probably caused the blip.

The mandatory manufacturer CO2 target by the EU is an average of 130g/km by 2012 and Clean Green Cars thinks there could be significant problems ahead for the car industry. Jay Nagley, Publisher of Clean Green Cars said,”Car manufacturers are swimming against the tide now that the scrappage scheme has ended.They are going to have to redouble their efforts to meet what is a reasonable target overall”.

There are three car manufacturers below the overall EU target (four seat models) as follows;

1. Toyota at 124.49 g/km
2. Fiat at 125.05 g/km
3. MINI at 129.33 g/km

Hyundai and Citroen are close to the target as well with both these manufacturers below 132g/km of CO2 and if you want to see the full table you can find it at the Clean Green Cars website. Alternatively if you are searching for a low CO2 car on contract hire then try the Super Shopper. You can choose a body style, then all manufacturers (or a selection), your contract hire budget range and then set the CO2 level to below 130g/km for example.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders’ (SMMT) has held its second International Automotive Summit in Central London with over 250 delegates attending. They were discussing the future of the UK motor industry, its role in supporting the economy and the growth opportunities through low carbon technology.

The Secretary of State, Dr Vince Cable, who made his first address at the summit also commented,”The car industry has endured tough times in the last few years but we are now seeing reasons for cautious optimism. Low carbon cars offer opportunities for future business growth and the UK is leading the way with Toyota’s plant in Derby this week starting production of the first mass produced fully hybrid car in Europe and Nissan starting recruitment at their electric battery plant in Sunderland”.

Paul Everitt, SMMT chief executive said yesterday,”Today’s Summit marks a new era for the UK automotive industry following a period of difficulty for the wider economy. We look forward to welcoming delegates and working together to help strengthen the UK supply chain and to support a transition to low carbon vehicles“.

Toyota Aygo

The J.D Power and Associates/WhatCar? Vehicle Ownership Study (VOSS), has show Toyota maintaining its fifth placed ranking, but up nine points. The star performers however were the Aygo and Yaris which achieved top ranking in VOSS City Car and Small car categories (Yaris equal top ranked). The full hybrid Prius was second ranked in the Upper Medium Car category and the Verso and RAV4 were voted third-ranked MPV and SUV.

Toyota Yaris

The study was conducted from owners who had used their cars for around two years old. Jon Williams, Toyota Commercial Director, said: “These study results are all the more important as they are based on the real-world experiences of vehicle owners. Toyota is committed to delivering quality, reliability, durability and owner-appeal in all its models, supported by competitive low running costs”. Toyota contract hire on the full range of cars, vans and pick-ups is available now.

Mazda

The Northern Ireland Mazda dealers are outperforming UK mainland Mazda dealers, with March year on year sales growing by a record 81%. Motorists in Northern Ireland are switching to Mazda which is outperforming other manufacturers like Audi, Citroen, Honda and Fiat. Mazda is now the third best selling Japanese brand in Northern Ireland after Toyota and Nissan.

The popularity of the Mazda2 and Mazda3 has helped the growth in Northern Ireland, with fewer than one in four car sales being accounted for by the car scrappage scheme. Mark Cameron, sales director for Mazda UK said,”Customers know that we represent really good value for money and as our brand awareness grows in Northern Ireland, more and more customers are switching to us”. Mazda contract hire prices on the whole Mazda range is available now.

Used Car Expert, the leading used car magazine, has undertaken an analysis of the depreciation of small family hatchbacks (1.6-litre petrol or comparable engine) and has discovered some interesting results. They looked at the resale value of three year old values against their new price, with 30,000 miles on the clock.

They found that many new car buyers will have lost up to 50% of their money in this time. Depreciation is never on most people’s minds when they buy a new car and this is why business car leasing is becoming more popular with many small businesses, as the risk around depreciation is with the vehicle leasing company.

• New car prices are an approximate guide price of the price paid for a new car 3 years ago

Accelerator problem fix

Following the recent recalls to the Toyota car range, work has already started on fixing the accelerator pedal issue and the Prius software problem. Toyota has 206 repair service centres and has the capacity ro repair 6,000 vehicles a day.

All the Toyota technicians have received the necessary training and parts are in stock to deal with the 180,865 vehicles in the UK that are affected. The Toyota service centres are also extending their opening hours to complete all recalls within a matter of weeks and the pedal repair takes no more than 30 minutes.

Steve Settle, Toyota GB Customer Services Director said,”We are doing everything we can to ensure our customer’s vehicles are attended to as promptly as possible. With the assistance of the DVLA and the commitment of all our centres, we have been able to launch a repair programme that is thorough,  efficient and effective in ensuring all the vehicles affected by the recall are fixed”.

Used Car Expert magazine has commented that with some Peugeot and Citroen models also sharing the same accelerator part as Toyota, and also in need of correcting, that manufacturer recalls also need to be included as part of any vehicle service history.

Magazine editor Matthew Turnbridge said,”The Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VoSA) tells me that 9.36% of vehicles or components recalled last year never got repaired.  While this shocking statistic includes stolen vehicles and motors that have been scrapped or written off, what it does mean is that there’s a huge number of cars out there that haven’t had a faulty part fixed – for one reason or another, owners have not answered the recall”.  

If you ever want to check the state of play with any manufacturer recalls campagins then you can search at the VoSA site@ http://www.dft.gov.uk/vosa/apps/recalls/default.asp . One of the added value benefits of having a maintained leased car is that the leasing company will usually be told by the manufacturer about any recalls and will notify you accordingly.

Autotrader.co.uk, the site to sell new and used cars, vans, caravans, motorhomes and motorbikes, has named their top ten Superminis as follows.

1. Ford Fiesta
2. Volkswagen Polo
3. Mini Cooper
4. Mazda2
5. Fiat 500
6. Toyota iQ
7. Vauxhall Corsa
8. Suzuki Swift
9. Nissan Micra
10. Renault Clio

Before you buy your next car it might be worth considering car leasing however, rather than face losing money over time as the car depreciates. Depreciation is the biggest cost in car ownership.