Bankrupt MG Rover suffered another blow as it came close to bottom in a customer satisfaction survey published today.
Only four major car manufacturers finished lower than MG Rover in the 32-company list compiled by marketing information company JD Power and What Car? magazine.
The Birmingham company got 755 points out of 1,000 for customer satisfaction - well below the average of 786 in the table based on responses from more than 20,000 car owners.
MG Rover's rock bottom fortunes were also reflected in the fact that some of its cars also fared badly in the table of 124 individual models.
The MG TF sports car, which has been one of the best selling two-seat roadsters, was ranked in 123rd place with
70.6 points out of 100, with only the Kia Sportage (70.2 points) below it.
The Rover 25 and its MG equivalent, the ZR, was also in the bottom ten - in equal 115th place with 73.6 points.
The problems that Land Rover is facing in raising build quality at its Lode Lane factory were underlined by it finishing below MG Rover in the company rankings with 755 points.
Land Rover is under orders from parent company Ford to improve the quality of its vehicles to at least that of Jaguar, its West Midland partner in the Detroit group's upmarket Premier Automotive Group. Jaguar itself was ranked 11th with 807 points.
Automotive industry commentators said MG Rover's poor showing was because it has been unable to produce any fresh new models since being ditched by BMW in 2000.
The design and technology of some of its cars date back 20 years or so in some cases and the cars are outclassed by the company's bigger competitors, although the top of the range Rover 75 and its MG equivalent, the ZT are generally well regarded.
"There were quality problems with the MG TF earlier in its life but these seemed to have been resolved," said David Leggatt, managing editor of industry website Just-Auto.com.
"The fact that is now ranked only above the Kia Sportage could reflect a fall in morale at Longbridge as the company's fortunes worsened."
Foreign manufacturers dominated the JD Power/What Car? survey with Lexus, Toyota's luxury brand, topping the table with 848 points.
Lexus was followed Skoda (847), Honda (843) and Toyota (835).
The Oxford-built Mini, formerly a Rover brand but now owned by BMW, came sixth in the list with 821 points.
The Honda Jazz ( 88.1 points) was ranked top model for the second successive year. Second was the Lexus IS 200/300 (85.5 points) and third the Toyota Yaris (85.1 points).
Three other Honda models were in the top 20, including the Swindon-made Civic. Ten Japanese models ranked in the top 20.
