A new study on carmaker-supplier relations has revealed that Porsche ranked higher than Toyota in the eyes of the partsmakers. Specifically, Porsche is in the No. 1 spot with 617 points out of a total 1,000 points in the 2011 Supplier Relationship (SuRe) index, which is a ranking of 30 international vehicle manufacturers that was the core component of the 7th Annual Automotive News Europe/SupplierBusiness OEM-Supplier Relations Survey presented recently. Last year, Toyota was the top finisher, says Autonews. Now, it ranked second with 614 points.

The next automakers in the ranks are Honda Motor Corp. with 602 points, BMW AG with 594 and Audi AG with 592. In total, the average points for the vehicle manufacturers dropped to 513 points, which is the lowest SuRe index total since the statistic began to be kept in 2006. The score this year is also below the all-time high average of the 572 points in 2010. One factor being attributed to the drop in overall average was the massive declines in the scores of automakers like Honda, BMW and Toyota. The score of BMW dropped to 42 points from last year, falling below 600 for the first time since the SuRe results were launched. Fini disclosed that BMW dropped because suppliers perceive that the company has become "more confrontational" this year, coinciding with its drive to reduce costs for components and supplies by 4 billion euros by 2012. The company announced this goal in 2007. Herbert Diess, BMW's purchasing chief, told Automotive News Europe in March that the company has completed the program more than a year ahead than expected.