One priority that appears to be paying off handsomely is a sharp focus on quality. It was something VW let slip early in the decade, Hallmark acknowledged, and that seriously hurt the brand’s image and drove away many long-loyal customers. But over the last three years, the average number of problems per vehicle has plunged by an average 75 percent.
And VWoA’s “best success story,”the Touareg SUV, now has just one“problem” per vehicle, measured after a year in service, compared with five defects after the same service cycle in 2005.Boosting quality pays off in several ways, noted Hallmark: through improved customer loyalty, and in reduced warranty costs, which have,over the last three years, fallen by thousands of dollars a vehicle.