Sowetan Reporter

Sowetan Reporter

The Toyota Yaris has come out tops in product quality in this year's Synovate Quality Awards.

Yaris has enjoyed good sales in South Africa since its launch in November last year and its owners have experienced only 42 problems out of every 100 vehicles. This the lowest number in the history of the research.

Other category winners from Toyota were the Corolla - sedans with engines bigger than 1,4-litres, Prado - large recreational vehicle, Land Cruiser pick-up - diesel single cab, Hilux - tied with Nissan Hardbody in both diesel and petrol double cab categories.

Toyota also took the honours for the best overall light commercial vehicle brand and the best local plant manufacturing LCVs.

There were runner-up positions for Corolla 140i - small sedan, Hilux - large petrol single cab and tied with Isuzu KB in small petrol single cab, and the local plant manufacturing passenger cars - tied with BMW and Nissan.

Andrew Kirby, the company's senior vice president for sales and marketing, said he was particularly pleased with the good performances by the locally manufactured Corolla, RunX and Hilux at a time when there is a perception that imported vehicles exhibit higher quality standards than locally produced models.

"All the vehicles manufactured at our Prospecton facility near Durban are built to Toyota's demanding international standards," said Kirby.

"We are now a high- volume exporter to many world markets, including supplying the discerning buyers in Europe. That makes us not compromise on quality."

The recently published detailed new vehicle product quality survey is part of Synovate's Competitive Customer Satisfaction Index research programme, which is the largest of its kind in South Africa.

More than 55000 vehicle owners are interviewed each year and the survey has been used by local manufacturers and distributors as a vehicle quality benchmark for the past 12 years. The product quality survey typically occurs after 90 days of ownership.