Survey suggests the emissions scandal hasn't harmed VW's reputation as much as was thought, with 44 per cent picking one of its brands as their most trusted
New research suggests that amost half of Britons still think VW Group brands are the most trustworthy, in spite of the emissions scandal in which the company is currently embroiled.
Ford topped the survey, which was carried out by research firm Future Thinking, with a total of 29 per cent of respondents saying that they trusted it the most. But while their individual scores were lower, brands owned by the Volkswagen Group polled a total of 44 per cent of the votes between them.
This is quite a surprise given all the bad publicity the company has had since October when it was caught cheating in US NOx emissions tests – a scandal that saw its CEO Martin Winterkorn resign.
Indeed, many had said that the public’s perception of the manufacturer could be so badly damaged as to force it into selling off parts of its business, or potentially even bankruptcy.
The reality, however, appears to be quite different, with Audi, the premium arm of the VW Group, doing so well as to take third place in the survey with 25 per cent of the vote; it was just pipped to second place by its arch-rival BMW, which polled 27 per cent.
The Volkswagen brand itself was some way behind, but it is still considered the most trusted car brand by 10 per cent of Britons.
Meanwhile, Skoda and Seat, the two other VW Group brands that were included in the survey, were picked out as the most trusted by five and four per cent of respondents respectively.
The survey of 2,735 people also revealed that 11 per cent of respondents felt that none of the mainstream car manufacturers that they could vote for was particularly trustworthy.
It was the older generation, that sent Ford to the top, with the brand considered the most trusted among respondents aged 35 and over.
By contrast, premium brands held sway among younger people, with BMW considered the most trusted car maker among 41 per cent of under-18-year-olds, and 34 per cent of 18-34-year-olds.
-Telegraph