J.D.Power & Associates Initial Quality Study: American automakers advance

According to the prestigious annual J.D. Power & Associates Initial Quality Study 2009, the quality of the latest vehicles produced by Detroit automakers rose “by an average of 10%” and the difference of quality between imported vehicles and domestic production is the smallest ever. The survey was conducted over various auto brands from November to February. The survey results were released on June 22, 2009. Here are some of the important points of the survey:

• In the first 90 days of ownership consumers brought less complains against cars produced by Ford, Chrysler, and General Motors.
• The Lexus brand of Toyota Motor Corp. took the top spot and BMW AG’s mini was the in the last spot.
• During a speech at the Automotive Press Association in Detroit, David Sargent, Vice President, Automotive Research, J.D. Power Automotive Research, said that the quality gap between domestic and imported vehicle has been the smallest; only six points.
• In case of cars both domestic and foreign car makers scored same while domestic truck segment had a slight advantage over foreign automakers. On the contrary, in the crossover vehicle segment, foreign automakers scored better than domestic producers.
• Chrysler LLC was the champion among domestic automakers. The Jeep brand of the company which came in the last position in the 2008 survey rose four spots in the ranking. There were 137 problems per 100 vehicle produced by the company compared 166 problems per 100 vehicle in 2008.
• Toyota’s Lexus had 84 problems against Porsche’s 90 problems. In the past two years, Porsche occupied the top spot.
• The Cadillac brand of General Motors was ranked third with 91 problems.
• Hyundai Motor ranked fourth with 95 problems.
• Honda took over the fifth spot with 99 problems.
• Ford’s Lincoln brand was ranked 27 with 129 problems. The Lincoln brand came 15^th last year.
• Volvo was ranked 24^th.
• GM’s Chevrolet brand finished in ninth place with 103 defects per 100 vehicle. Its Buick and GMC brands were ranked 19^th and 18^th.
• Saab scored the lowest with 138 problems. Saturn and Hummer were also among the lowest ranking vehicle brands.
  

P.S. If you want to know the results in detail visit the following webpage:

http://www.jdpower.com/autos/articles/2009-Initial-Quality-Study-Results

Related articles:

The Wall Street Journal