Saturday, June 26, 2010

Ford ahead of foreigners in auto quality rankings for very first time

U.S. automakers finished ahead of imported brands for the very first time ever in auto quality rankings for mass-market new cars and trucks released Thursday. Among mass-market brands, Ford Motor Co. ranked No. 1 for quality within the J.D. Power and Associates car review consumers use as a guide for auto quality rankings. Toyota, usually near the top, fell to 21st.

Source for this article: Auto quality rankings put Ford ahead of foreigners for first time By Personal Money Store

Criteria judged by J.D. Power

In its car reviews, J.D. Power ranks autos by how numerous issues are reported to dealers for each 100 automobiles. The Associated Press reports that U.S. automakers reported fewer problems from customers for the first 90 days on average than those for imports. Ford's achievement is the very first time that has happened in the industry group's annual quality study now in its 24th year.

A shake-up in auto quality rankings

Ford stayed out of bankruptcy, refused a government bailout and liked some of the best improvement in auto quality rankings among all other brands, achieving its highest ranking ever at no 5 overall. Porsche, Acura, Mercedes-Benz and Lexus—all luxury brands—took the top four spots. Reuters reports that the outcome of the latest survey makes a statement about how far U.S. automakers have come in their effort to catch up with the quality of Asian automakers. Toyota dropped from sixth to 21st after its image took a beating from numerous safety recalls.

GM quality ranking below industry average

In General Motors auto quality rankings, Buick was the only brand with fewer reported troubles than the year before. Business Week reports that below average ratings for all GM brands is a bad sign for the automaker's progress. J.D. Power said that high scoring brands within the auto quality ranking survey do a better job of keeping customers, with owners of cars within the top quarter of the list purchasing the very same brand 59 percent of the time while brands in the bottom quarter retain just 44 percent of owners.

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