Tata vehicles in South Africa face quality question mark

By IANS

Johannesburg : The distributor for Tata vehicles in South Africa said Wednesday it would wait for a full report before commenting on the claims that Tata vehicles have the highest after-sales complaints among all global brands sold here.


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The Initial Quality Study 2007, undertaken by international research company J.D. Power and Associates, released early in December, claimed that Tata vehicles had 567 after-sales problems per 100 vehicles, which was more than double the average of 245 for 23 vehicles of other global brands.

Michael Camacho, sales and marketing manager for Accordion Investments, said a full report was expected in mid-January and that full details of the various problems would be required for an accurate assessment to be made.

Since its launch three years ago, Tata passenger vehicles have found a huge market in South Africa, especially among the first-time and middle-income buyers because of their competitive pricing.

The controversy over the quality comes before the launch in India of the Rs.100,000 ‘people’s car’, a long-time dream of the group’s chief executive Ratan Tata.

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