Lexus leads the show as Japanese vehicles dominate dependability study

07 August 2008

Mumbai: Toyota Motor Corp.'s Lexus luxury brand once again stands alone atop an influential ranking on vehicle durability, marking Japan's continued domination over Detroit, according to a study published by JD Power and Associates.
 
The annual report, titled the `Vehicle Dependability Study', released today tracks quality over the first three years of ownership of a vehicle in a critical area weighed by American car buyers.

Seven of the 14 brands with above-average rankings are owned by Japanese auto makers. Five domestic names, including Ford Motor Co.'s (F) vastly improved Ford brand, scored better than average, along with two European brands.

General Motors Corp.'s (GM) premium Buick brand fell to sixth place from the first-place ranking it shared last year with Lexus, when it became the first brand in a dozen years to split the title with Lexus.

In awards given to vehicles in each segment, Toyota easily bested its competitors: 11 of 20 individual awards went to Toyota or Lexus nameplates.

Even as foreign brands overall beat Detroit-made cars and trucks, the Big Three's efforts to improve vehicle quality continued to pay off, with a number of important domestic players showing marked improvement.

The study, which measures problems experienced by original owners of 3-year-old (2005 model year) vehicles, finds that, on average, customers report experiencing 75 per cent more problems in the third year of ownership than during the first 90 days. Those models with the largest increase in problem levels show the most pronounced declines in satisfaction and the likelihood of owners to recommend their vehicle model. In addition, while no model has fewer reported problems in the third year of ownership compared with the first three months, those models that average less than 35 per cent problem growth actually demonstrate improvement in overall satisfaction during the three-year period.