By Jamie White – Head of Communications

Renault has continued to rise up the ranks in the Auto Express Driver Power 2015 survey rising eight places to seventh overall out of 32 brands – while its subsidiary Dacia maintained its impressive fifth position.

Renault’s score of 87.08 per cent was attributed in the survey to finishing fourth overall for running costs, seventh for in-car technology and eighth for ride quality. Customer satisfaction with reliability and build quality has also improved.

Dacia’s score of 88.86 per cent overall was achieved with impressive scores from owners on practicality, in-car technology and servicing costs and them ranking Dacia first of all 32 brands for fuel economy and other running costs. There were also improvements in build quality and performance compared to 2014.

Auto Express said in summary of Renault’s performance: “Last year it scored 15th overall with 85.88 per cent, helped by the new Captur. Now, though, it’s jumped a further eight places and catapulted itself into the top 10. It really is quite an impressive performance in such a competitive field.”

Steve Fowler, Auto Express Editor-in-chief said: “Holding its own in the top five shows that affordability shouldn’t compromise quality, and Dacia has impressed with its models’ reliability and low running costs. It’s clear that British car buyers love a bargain, but that these bargains are proving to be solid investments.”

Ken Ramirez, Managing Director, Renault UK, said: “Product and Service Quality are fundamental parts of our GO5+ mid-term plan objectives and it is therefore highly encouraging to see that real customer feedback place both our brands, Renault and Dacia, amongst the Top10 in the industry.”

The Auto Express Driver Power survey had its largest response ever in 2015 with 61,113 car owners, up 20 per cent on 2014, completing the comprehensive survey about their vehicle ownership experience.

Renault UK car sales in the first quarter of 2015 were up 16.6 per cent on 2014 with 20,593 cars registered. Total, 2014 full-year sales stood at 66,334, up 43.7 per cent.

Dacia saw a first quarter UK sales increase in 2015 of 10.3 per cent to 7,524 vehicles, while 2014 full-year sales stood at 23,862, up 39.2 per cent on the previous year.

Mystery Shopping and Performance Improvement company, Douglas Stafford, provides Renault UK and Dacia with a tailored and bespoke nationwide mystery shopping programme to include Telephone Mystery Shopping, Email Mystery Shopping and Video Mystery Shopping.