Jaguar purrs into top spot as its customers are rated most satisfied with their cars - Daily Mail
By Ray Massey
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Jaguar has leapt for the first time to the top of a major customer satisfaction league table.
Britain’s big cat roared ahead of Japan’s luxury car-maker Lexus - which has held the top spot for eleven years - with experts citing it as proof that UK cars were now matching the best in the world on quality, style and desirability.
But Vauxhall - this month celebrating the survival and expansion of its Ellesmere Port factory in Cheshire - scored badly with its ageing Vectra model finishing last in the individual car section.
British manufacturer Jaguar has topped the customer satisfaction table for the first time
Jaguar beat long-time winners Lexus into second place, followed by Volkswagen-owned Skoda, Japan’s Honda and Mercedes-Benz, Audi and BMW in the survey by What Car? magazine and customer satisfaction experts JD Power.
It crowns a remarkable week of good news for the UK manufacturer as booming Jaguar Land Rover this week announced record profits of 1.5billion at a time of unprecedented expansion and investment. Prime Minister David Cameron and senior cabinet ministers use the Jaguar XJ as their official cars.
What Car? editor-in-chief Chas Hallett said: ‘This is a great accolade for everyone at Jaguar. This study shows that customers are really satisfied with their Jaguars, a hugely important feat for any car maker.’
Jaguar customers praised the ‘top-notch workmanship’ and their dealerships for their clean and comfortable waiting areas, helpful staff, but criticised the significant rise in labour rates for servicing and repairs.
What Car? said: ‘Jaguar’s hard work in knocking Lexus off the top spot is even more impressive considering one of Jaguar’s featured cars, the X-Type, isn’t even made any more.'
But with a new F-Type roadster sport car and an XF Sportbrake estate in the pipeline it said ‘the future for Jaguar looks bright.’
Luxury car brand Lexus, which has long topped the satisfaction tables, has been pipped into second place this year
Jaguar sold 13,787 of its XJ, limousines, XF saloons, and XK sports cars in the UK last year but builds around 50,000 - the majority of which are exported.
Jaguar’s global brand director Adrian Hallmark praised the efforts of the 2,000-strong British workforce at the firm’s Castle Bromwich factory in Birmingham adding: ‘This award has huge significance beyond the UK. Jaguar has created cars that are world class in their quality, design and engineering - it’s a huge accomplishment and a tremendous honour to achieve the Number One spot.’
Kia’s stylish Sportage 4X4 topped the league table for the most satisfying car to own - just pipping Jaguar’s XF saloon which took second place ahead of the Toyota Prius, Skoda Superb and Mercedes-Benz E-Class.
KIA's Sportage 4x4 was voted the most satisfying vehicle to own
Owners praised the Sportage’s good looks, value for money, seven year warranty and many extras as standard. What Car? noted: 'The Sportage was the only car in the survey to score five stars across all categories, from mechanical reliability to ownership costs and the dealer experience.’
Worst performing car for satisfaction is the now discontinued Vauxhall Vectra - once famously lambasted by BBC Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson - which ceased production four years ago to be replaced by the Insignia.
What Car? noted: ‘As a manufacturer, Vauxhall climbed off the bottom of the pile this year, but the company won’t be celebrating anytime soon because its Vectra took the wooden spoon in the individual category.
‘The car suffered problems in almost every area. Owners complained about its looks, driving dynamics, and air-conditioning (the biggest single cause of complaints). Vauxhall customer service didn’t sweeten the pill either; many owners were disgruntled about the costs to run and fix the Vectra.’
It noted:’In Vauxhall’s defence, the Vectra is no longer on sale.’ However it added: ‘Its Insignia replacement didn’t cover itself in glory, scoring well below average. In 95th place, but at least it ranked 23 places higher than the Vectra.’
The now-discontinued Vauxhall Vectra, lambasted by Jeremy Clarkson, was also panned by the survey
Worst performing manufacturer with a ‘shocking’ result is budget brand Chevrolet, Vauxhall’s sibling in the giant General Motors’ stable. Vauxhall is languishing close behind in second from bottom place -just ahead of Italy’s Fiat, Japan’s Suzuki and France’s Renault.
What Car? said this was down to the poor performance of the ageing Matiz and that more recently launched models such as the Spark and Cruze were too new to be included.
The satisfaction survey results are based on Based on 18,000 online interviews of owners covering an evaluation of 66 car ownership attributes grouped into four main sections: vehicle appeal including performance, design, comfort, features (37 per cent of the marks); quality and reliability (24 per cent); ownership costs including fuel consumption, insurance and cost of service and repair (22 per cent); and dealer service (17 per cent).
Among the different categories of vehicle, Toyota’s iQ is the best city car, Honda Jazz is best supermini, Skoda Octavia is best small family car, Toyota Prius the best family car, Lexus IS is best compact executive, Jaguar XF is the best executive car, Volkswagen Scirocco is the best sports and cabrio car, Mercedes B-Class is the best multi-purpose vehicle, Kia Sportage is the best compact sports-utility vehicle (SUV), and the Lexus RX is the best large SUV.
Geneva motor show 2012: Vauxhall Ampera wins Car of the Year - Daily Telegraph
"This is one of proudest moments of my career," said Karl-Friedrich Stracke, chief executive of Opel/Vauxhall as he received the award with Susan Doherty, president and managing director of Chevrolet Europe. The Ampera's sister car, the Chevrolet Volt, which has been on sale for 18 months in the USA, won the North American Car of the Year award in 2011.
London 2012 Olympics: small bottle of beer at Games will cost £4.20 as organisers reveal food and drink prices - Daily Telegraph
"We have gone to great lengths to find top quality, tasty food that celebrates the best of Britain. We believe that our prices are more than comparable to those found at other major sporting events which because of their temporary nature are often more expensive than the high street.
"We are proud that the catering and industry has been quick to adopt the standards of our Food Vision, leaving a stronger and sustainable industry as a legacy of the Games."
- Fancy a drink? Maybe not at these prices...
Bottled water – £1.60
Fairtrade Tea from £2.00
Fairtrade Coffee from £2.60
500ml bottle of Coca Cola – £2.30
330ml bottle of Heineken – £4.20
London 2012 red wine 18.7cl – £4.80
There will be over 800 spectator concessions, featuring more than 150 different dishes that aim to "showcase the diversity and quality of British food".
Visitors to the Olympic Park will be able to purchase a wide range of foods but the only branded products are Olympic sponsors: the worlds largest McDonald's restaurant, Coca Cola, Cadbury, Nature Valley and Heineken.
Organisers says over 14 million meals will be served during the Games, across 40 locations. They claim this is the largest peace time catering operation in the world.
Well over a million meals will be served to athletes, with 1,300 different types of dishes on the menu. Organisers believe that on the busiest day of the Games over 65,000 meals will be served to athletes.
- What's on the menu?
- Porridge and maple syrup, made with UK oats and milk – £2.20
Toasted tea cakes, with Yorkshire butter – £2.10
Carrot and cucumber sticks with red pesto hummus – £2.50
6 Jerk Red Tractor assured chicken wings – £3.50
Red Leicester British cheese with British apple chutney and Farm assured lettuce on Oxfordshire bread – £3.80
Jacket potato with Dingley Dell bacon and Freedom Foods chicken in a herb mayonnaise, served with roquete and watercress salad – £5.80
Pole and line caught tuna and sweet potato British salad – £5.90
Freshly carved Dingley Dell hog roasted Red Tractor pork, served in Oxfordshire cross hatched bread roll with mixed leaf salad and assorted accompaniments – £6.50
Grilled Red Tractor chicken burrito – £6.50
Penne pasta Red Tractor chicken and mushroom white sauce – £6.50
Thin crust stone baked 10” pizza with spicy pepperoni, spicy beef, basil and oregano – £7.50
Farm assured Scotch Beef with Long Clawson Stilton Pie, Irish mashed potato with Red Tractor Cream and British butter and onion gravy – £8.00
Cod and chips – from £8
Singapore noodle, stir fried egg noodle, chicken, prawns, char sui Pork, chilli and shredded peppers in a hoi sin dressing – £8.50
Lamb Rogan Josh served with Pilaf or Saffron rice – £8.50
London 2012: 'Boris Bike' staff to ballot for strike - BBC News
Staff at the bicycle hire scheme in London are to be balloted for a strike over pay and working conditions.
The RMT union said its members were concerned about changes to shift patterns and a lack of financial reward for the increased Olympics workload.
General secretary Bob Crow said staff were facing a "bullying management" who were imposing "outrageous changes" to service conditions with no extra pay.
Serco, who operate the scheme, said it had consulted staff on the changes.
It comes as London Underground staff struck a deal over Olympics pay.
Mr Crow said: "The London Cycle Hire Scheme is much more than a vanity project and a publicity stunt for the London Mayor. It is now a valuable part of our transport system and the staff should be valued as such."
'Not recognised'Serco, who operate the scheme - often nicknamed "Boris Bikes" - said it had sought to maintain a "productive and mutually respectful relationship" with staff.
In a statement the company said: "We have an existing voluntary recognition agreement with the Community Trade Union and we are holding a meeting on 12 June to discuss working arrangements for the Olympics.
"Serco has been in consultation with our staff with regard to changes to working conditions and workload and shift patterns have been changed as a result."
The statement added all proposed future changes would be subject to consultation and the RMT was not a recognised union at the hire scheme as they withdrew their application to be recognised on this contract on 24 May.
A spokesman for Transport for London said as the service was contracted it out, it could not comment.
GM's Vauxhall announces new Astra at UK plant - Yahoo Finance
LONDON (AP) -- General Motors' Vauxhall plant in northern England will build the company's top-selling Astra vehicles, the automaker said Thursday — a relief for U.K. politicians who had lobbied its American owner to keep the plant open.
The announcement comes after workers at the Ellesmere Port plant, near Liverpool, overwhelmingly backed a job deal which turned the factory into a 24-hour-a-day operation, a key cost-cutting measure pursued by parent company GM Europe.
GM Europe lost $700 million in 2011 and has been struggling to turn around its Opel and Vauxhall brands. It had been feared the company would close the Ellesmere Port facility in favor of consolidating production elsewhere — such as its headquarters in Ruesselsheim in Germany or Gliwice in Poland.
In a separate announcement, Opel said that the Ruesselsheim plant would switch to producing other models.
GM's announcement — which comes with a 125 million pound (nearly $200 million) investment and 700 extra jobs — is a break for leaders such as British Business Secretary Vince Cable, who fought to keep the British plant open.
Prime Minister David Cameron, speaking from the northern city of Manchester, called the decision "a fantastic vote of confidence."
"The U.K. government gave this its full backing. The unions supported the necessary changes. The workforce has responded magnificently. It is a British success story," he said.
Cable, who at one point traveled to the U.S. to plead the plant's case, told BBC television that no financial inducements were offered to General Motors Corp. to keep the U.K. facility open, saying the move underlined that Britain is "a good business environment for the motor industry."
Production of the new car is due to begin in 2015, with at least 160,000 vehicles scheduled to be produced every year.
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