For the first time in nearly three decades, Japanese brand vehicles fell below industry average on initial quality, according to a consumer survey by J.D. Power & Associates.
The surprising result is less a measure of faltering by the Japanese and more a reflection of how must faster other brands are improving. The Japanese brands improved marginally, but failed to keep up with the rest of the industry.
J.D. Power’s Initial Quality Study, which measures problems experienced by vehicle owners during the first 90 days of ownership, was released today at a meeting of the Automotive Press Association.
Korean brands led the industry in initial quality by the widest margin ever, averaging 90 problems per 100 (PP100) vehicles, an improvement of 11 PP100 from 2014. For the first time in the study, European brands (113 PP100) surpassed Japanese brands (114 PP100), which were tied with domestic brands for only the second time in the study’s 29-year history. Only four of the 10 Japanese brands included in the study posted an improvement.
“This is a clear shift in the quality landscape,” said Renee Stephens, vice president of U.S. automotive quality at J.D. Power. “For so long, Japanese brands have been viewed by many as the gold standard in vehicle quality. While the Japanese automakers continue to make improvements, we’re seeing other brands, most notably Korean makes, really accelerating the rate of improvement.”
Stephens said companies are not only working to improve quality on existing models, but are also working up front to launch vehicles with higher quality and more intuitive designs.
Porsche ranks highest in initial quality for a third consecutive year, posting a score of 80 PP100. With a huge leap of 20 PP100 from 2014, Kia follows Porsche in the rankings at 86 PP100. It was the first time that Kia led all non-premium makes in initial quality.
Jaguar (93 PP100) and Hyundai (95 PP100) rank third and fourth, while the highest-ranked Japanese brand is Nissan’s Infiniti (97 PP100) in fifth place. Toyota’s Lexus ranks 9th, behind BMW, Chevrolet and Lincoln.
The definition of quality is somewhat subjective, with consumers viewing poorly designed features as quality problems.
Technology continues to be a trouble spot for the industry as consumers reported the most problems with their entertainment and connectivity systems, especially with voice recognition and Bluetooth pairing of their phones.
“Smartphones have set high consumer expectations of how well technology should work, and automakers are struggling to match that success in their new vehicles,” said Stephens. “However, we are seeing some OEMs make important improvements along the way. What’s clear is that they can’t afford to wait for the next generation of models to launch before making important updates to these systems.”
To see the original article, go to Forbes.com.
