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General Motors passed Toyota Motor Corp. to lead J.D. Power & Associates' Initial Quality Study for the first time since the survey started 27 years ago.

J.D. Power's survey of new vehicles was redesigned for 2013 to measure the quality and problems related to new technologies, the marketing information services company said.

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GM's four American brands, Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac, ranked above average in its study this year. GM's truck brand GMC ranked second, the highest it has ever ranked, and Chevrolet was fifth while the Toyota brand ranked seventh.

GMC and Chevrolet both jumped considerably from last year's rankings. Last year, GMC ranked 12th while Chevrolet was 15th and Toyota was eighth.

General Motors as a corporation had eight model-level segment awards, five of which were for Chevrolet.

"That's pretty impressive for any manufacturer," said John Tews, a spokesman for J.D. Power.

The study is based on responses from 83,000 car purchasers and lessees of new 2013 model-year vehicles surveyed after 90 days of ownership.

Here are J.D. Power's top 17 2013 Nameplate IQS Rankings, which are above industry average, based on the fewest problems per 100 vehicles:

1. Porsche

2. GMC

3. Lexus

4. Infiniti

5. Chevrolet

6. Acura

7. Toyota

8. Honda

9. Jaguar

10. Hyundai

11. Kia

12. Mercedes-Benz

13. Audi

14. Cadillac

15. Buick

16. Chrysler

17. Lincoln

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