Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Lexus Bypasses Lincoln as Top Car Brand in Latest JD Power Study



Car owners are a fickle lot and that's never more clear than the latest reliability study by JD Power and Associates. The top ten, no, top five brands have undergone yet another shuffle, and an old favorite has come back on top.


Lexus is back on top of the Dependability Study. Leading the charge was the Lexus LS, which reported the fewest problems in the industry. Outside of Lexus, Toyota dominated the top five, with Porsche in second, Cadillac tying with Toyota for third, Scion in fourth, and Mercedes-Benz in fifth.

J.D. Power’s 2012 U.S. Vehicle Dependability Study is based on 31,000 original owners of 2009 model year vehicles after three years of ownership, with the rating of Problems per 100 Vehicles (PP100) behind based on issues experienced in the past year.

2011 saw an overall reliability improvement across the board, with J.D. Power reporting that 25 of 32 brands saw an increase in reliability compared to last year. Six brands dropped in the rankings, while one saw no change. J.D. Power noted that a strong initial vehicle quality in 2009 translated directly to the historical high dependability of 132 PP100 we have now in 2012. The Lexus LS led the industry with just 72 PP100.

J.D. Power also pointed out that domestic automakers rose slightly faster than their imported counterparts, and that some automakers (particularly domestic), face unfounded questions about overall reliability from customers. During the last four years Buick, Cadillac, Ford, Hyundai, and Lincoln all faced a high proportion of new-vehicle buyers expressing reliability concerns, when all five brands have consistently reported strong levels of dependability in J.D. Power’s research.

Of the 14 different segments that J.D. Power and Associates break vehicles down into, Toyota products topped eight. Ford products took three segments, GM and Nissan products captured two each, and Hyundai won one segment. J.D. Power also noted that the Ford Mustang, GMC Yukon, and Porsche 911 all performed especially well – though they didn’t receive awards due to either an insufficient number of award-eligible vehicles, or insufficient market share of award-eligible vehicles.

Sitting at the bottom five of the nameplate rankings were all Chrysler nameplates. Chrysler was last, with Dodge, Jeep and Ram following closely behind. The bottom five was rounded out by Jaguar and Infiniti in a fifth place tie. You can check out the full list of the rankings below.

2012 Nameplate Ranking

Brand, Problems per 100 Vehicles – Industry average 132 PP100

1. Lexus, 86

2. Porsche, 98

3. Cadillac, 104

3. Toyota, 104

4. Scion, 111

5. Mercedes-Benz, 112

6. Lincoln, 116

7. Ford, 124

8. Buick, 125

8. Hyundai, 125

9. Acura, 129

10. Honda, 131

11. Chevrolet, 135

12. Volvo, 143

13. Audi, 148

13. Audi, 148

13. Smart, 148

14. Subaru, 149

15. Nissan, 152

16. Mitsubishi, 153

17. BMW, 154

18. GMC, 158

19. Mini, 161

20. Mazda, 163

21. Suzuki, 167

22. Kia, 169

22. Volkswagen, 169

23. Infiniti, 172

23. Jaguar, 172

24. Ram, 174

25. Jeep, 179

26. Dodge, 183

27. Chrysler, 192

Top Three Models per Segment

Sub-Compact Car

1. Toyota Yaris

2. Scion xD

3. Honda Fit

Compact Car

1. Toyota Prius

2. Toyota Corolla

3. Hyundai Elantra

Compact Sporty Car

1. Scion tC

Midsize Car

1. Ford Fusion

2. Mitsubishi Galant

3. Toyota Camry

Large Car

1. Buick Lucerne

2. Toyota Avalon

3. Ford Taurus

Entry Premium Car

1. Lexus ES 350 (tie)

1. Lincoln MKZ (tie)

2. Acura TL

Midsize Premium Car

1. Hyundai Genesis

2. Mercedes-Benz E-Class

3. Volvo S80

Compact Multi-Purpose Vehicle

1. Scion xB

Compact Crossover/SUV

1. Chevrolet Equinox

2. Honda CR-V

3. Toyota RAV4

Midsize Crossover/SUV

1. Ford Explorer (tie)

1. Nissan Murano (tie)

2. Toyota Highlander

Midsize Premium Crossover/SUV

1. Lexus RX 350

2. Lincoln MKX

Midsize Pickup

1. Nissan Frontier

2. Ford Ranger

3. Honda Ridgeline

Minivan

1. Toyota Sienna

2. Honda Odyssey

Large Pickup

1. Toyota Tundra

2. GMC Sierra HD

3. Chevrolet Silverado

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