GERMAN luxury automaker Audi on Tuesday topped the annual ranking of new vehicles by influential US magazine Consumer Reports despite the brand’s emissions-cheating scandal while quality problems hurt Tesla Motors Inc’s (TSLA.O) Model S luxury car.
Audi was followed by Fuji Heavy Industries’ (7270.T) Subaru unit, Toyota Motor Corp’s (7203.T) Lexus brand, Porsche and BMW AG (BMWG.DE).
Volkswagen AG’s (VOWG_p.DE) Audi unit was named best overall brand, based on the magazine’s road testing, reliability, safety and owner satisfaction scores.
In September, VW admitted to secretly installing software that allowed its vehicles to emit up to 40 times legally allowable limits. In November, Audi admitted using separate software that allowed its diesel US SUVs and larger cars to emit excess emissions and was forced to halt US sales of new diesel vehicles indefinitely.
Consumer Reports did not rank any VW Group US diesel vehicles since they cannot legally be sold.
David Cole, chairman emeritus of the Center for Automotive Research, said the top ranking would help Audi even though its image had not suffered as much as its parent’s.
Audi US sales were up 2.7 per cent in January, while VW brand sales were down 15 per cent. “Audi hasn’t borne the brunt of what happened,” Mr Cole said.
Tesla’s Model S electric car was named Consumer Reports best overall car in 2014 and 2015, but this year the magazine opted not to name any best overall vehicle.
Jake Fisher, director of auto testing, said because of faltering reliability scores, the Model S was no longer the top ultraluxury car and ranks behind the BMW 750i xDrive, Lexus LS 460L and Audi A8 L. He said Tesla’s quality problems including issues with hatches, door handles, electric motors and batteries had increased because the automaker had ramped up production.
“They are having issues and they need to work that out before they introduce new models,” Mr Fisher said.
Consumer Reports unveiled the results in Washington. The non-profit magazine has more than 8 million subscribers and gets survey data from 740,000 owners. Many car shoppers consult the ratings, and automakers routinely tout favourable ratings in advertising.
US brands lagged most other automakers, but General Motors Co’s (GM.N) Buick brand ranked seventh, just ahead of Mazda. Motor Corp (7261.T). Toyota finished eighth, ahead of Hyundai Motor Co’s Kia unit and Honda Motor Co’s (7267.T) Honda brand. The Volkswagen brand ranked 15th overall.
