Toyota Tumbles, Porsche Tops on J.D. Power List
Annual initial quality survey of cars shows dramatic decline in Toyota brand.
June 17, 2010— -- Toyota's safety troubles appear to be spilling over to manufacturing quality as it tumbled from 6th to 21st place in this year's J.D. Power and Associates' annual Initial Quality Survey.
Porsche -- its Panamera is shown above -- was the top brand overall in fewest initial defects per vehicle. It was followed by Acura, Mercedes-Benz and Toyota's Lexus brand.
But Ford-brand vehicles came next, breaking into the top 5 for the first time in the study's 24 years. And in another first, the Detroit makers collectively beat imports, as Power hailed them in the study for their quality gains.
At the bottom with most defects: Land Rover, far behind the next worst-scorers, Mitsubishi and Volkswagen.
The study, the most-watched survey in the industry for quality straight from the assembly plant, measures how many problems show up in vehicles in the first 90 days of ownership.
The Toyota brand fell dramatically in rank as its count rose to 16 defects per 100 vehicles. The poor quality showing comes on top of a series of embarrassing safety recalls. "Clearly, Toyota has endured a difficult year," said David Sargent, VP of global vehicle research at J.D. Power and Associates. "Recent consumer concerns regarding Toyota's quality are reflected in the nameplate's performance in the 2010 study."
Said Toyota spokesman John Hanson: "Of course we are disappointed in the drop in the Toyota and Lexus IQS rankings. But this year's study was conducted at the height of intense media coverage of our recent recalls, so it's no surprise to see the impact this had on this specific rank for the vehicles involved."
He said that vehicles not involved in the recalls saw higher scores compared to last year
The industry average for 2010 in initial quality is 109 problems per 100 vehicles, up slightly from 108 last year. But initial quality for domestic brands rose 4 points this year to an average of 108, one better than the average for all brands.
"Domestic automakers have made impressive strides in steadily improving vehicle quality, particularly since 2007," said Sargent. "This year may mark a key turning point for U.S. brands as they continue to fight the battle against lingering negative perceptions of their quality."
