Vehicle Quality Improves Across the Board

Buy an ad on DigitalJournal.com

In JD Power's annual report , they ranked Honda and Porsche as the two top auto makers for vehicle quality, while stating that overall, throughout the industry the quality has increased.

Porsche was the top brand in J.D. Power's annual ranking of initial vehicle quality, which measures both mechanical and design problems in the first 90 days of ownership. Others in the top five were Nissan Motor Co.'s Infiniti, Mercedes-Benz, and Toyota Motor Corp.'s Lexus and Toyota brands.

This increase in quality has also been steady throughout the last decade, lowered to 118 problems per 100 vehicles in 2008 compared to 176:100 in 1998. The news is especially pleasing to hear given the current gas prices, with only (and predictably) large vehicles scoring low in consumer satisfaction in regards to fuel consumption. Meanwhile, the single brand that marked the most improvement was the Volkswagen Passat, followed closely by the Chrevolet Malibu and Infiniti EX-series.

Of course, there were some brands of vehicles that one would be advised to stay away from:

Chrysler LLC's Jeep was the worst performing brand, with 167 problems per 100 vehicles. Other brands in the bottom five were BMW AG's MINI, Land Rover, GM's Saturn, and Suzuki.

With the vehicle industry projected to being slowing down in sales (the American manufacturers have seen this already), it is extremely important to see which cars and brands are improving their products amidst tightening regulations and more difficult driving conditions (oil prices, congestion, etc). And while these numbers surely will not blow anyone away, for those that are going to be looking for a new vehicle in the near future, knowing that the industry is improving across the board is the first step to returning consumer confidence in the most important tool at our disposal.

"For every small, incremental increase in quality, you will get more customers coming back to your brand."

Truer words could not be spoken.