J.D. Power and Associates, the authority of customer satisfaction surveys on automotive product quality, rewards top honors to Japanese giant Toyota/Lexus once again.
Receiving the title as the top luxury brand in J.D. Power's initial quality study for its second consecutive year, Lexus has always been in the running for the top position for the past twenty odd years. This year, Lexus records a small 73 complaints per 100 vehicles.
However, competition has been especially close this year. Jaguar has climbed from an abysmal 20th place to an incredible 2nd in quality ranking. With only 75 complaints per 100 vehicles, Jaguar's brilliant performance was matched by Porsche. Finally, Cadillac and Honda round the top 5 automakers.
As Ford had already expected, it's quality ranking has slipped to 27th overall after its MyFord Touch infotainment system received high criticism for its slow performance and unintuitive interface. Despite a recent update, Ford scored 118 complaints per 100 vehicles. Via Detroit News, J.D. Power auto vice president Dave Sargent said, "The MyFord Touch system has been problematic."
Unfortunately, another American automaker is suffering from quality issues as well. Falling from ninth to 25th, Chrysler had the largest regression of any automakers on the list. Strangely, its entities Dodge, Jeep, and Ram all gained a fair bit of ground. Worst off is Chrysler's parent company, Fiat. Although the brand was not included last year, Fiat suffers from 151 complaints per 100, falling into last place, tied with Daimler's Smart brand.
In between the two extremes of the Toyota and the two American automakers, a number of automakers have made small shifts in rank. South Korean Hyundai fell from 11th to 18th. Nissan climbed from 24th to 12th.
All in all, J.D. Power and Associates Despite is pleased to announce that the overall industry has posted its best quality results in three years.
