Automotive Industry Improves 5 Percent Overall in Initial Quality
6 May 1999
J.D. Power and Associates Reports: Automotive Industry Improves 5 Percent Overall in Initial Quality, With Car Quality Still Outpacing Light Trucks AGOURA HILLS, Calif., May 5 -- Cars significantly outpace
light trucks in initial quality despite a growing customer trend of replacing
cars with light trucks, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 1999
Initial Quality Study 2(SM) (IQS2) released today.
"Many new light-truck owners expect to experience car-like quality in
their new vehicles, specifically in the SUV segment," said Jacques daCosta,
senior manager of product research at J.D. Power and Associates. "The
challenge for vehicle manufacturers is to take lessons learned in car quality
and apply them to light trucks as more and more car owners migrate to light
trucks."
After stalling for two years, initial vehicle quality within the
automotive industry improved this year by 5 percent compared to 1998 study
results. According to the study, Toyota captures a total of eight awards,
including two plant awards. The Toyota Corolla, 4Runner, Land Cruiser and
Sienna top their segments in initial quality, while the Lexus LS 400 continues
to set the standard for initial quality, earning the distinction as the best
Premium Luxury car for the third consecutive year. The Lexus LX 470 also
earns the top ranking in the Luxury SUV category despite its first year in the
study.
"Toyota is an example of a manufacturer that has applied lessons learned
on luxury makes and translated that across model line-ups," said daCosta.
"These results are another reinforcement that their customers agree with what
they are doing."
Other notable results of the study include the performance of General
Motors in capturing the top three positions in the Premium Midsize segment led
by the Chevrolet Lumina, which achieved its first-ever initial quality award.
The U.S.-built Nissan Altima topped the Entry Midsize segment after placing
second last year.
The study also shows that manufacturing plants from General Motors and
Toyota stand out. GM's Flint, Michigan, assembly plant and Toyota's Tahara,
Japan, assembly plant tie for the Platinum plant award based on the Buick
LeSabre, Pontiac Bonneville and the Toyota Celica and Lexus LS 400 and GS
sedans, respectively. Also in North America, the GM-Toyota joint venture, New
United Motor Manufacturing, Inc. (NUMMI) car plant in Fremont, Calif.,
receives the Silver plant award based on the Corolla and Prizm models, while
GM's Oshawa-1 assembly plant receives the Bronze based on the Lumina and Monte
Carlo models.
In Asia, Honda and Toyota assembly plants continue to build their
reputations for initial quality, with Honda's Sayama, Japan, car plant
receiving the Silver award in a tie with Toyota's Tsutsumi, Japan, plant.
Honda's Sayama plant award is based on the RL, Accord and Prelude models,
while Toyota's Tsutsumi plant is recognized for the Lexus ES 300 and the Camry
models.
In Europe, BMW's Dingolfing, Germany, assembly plant receives the Gold
award, based on the BMW 5 and 7 Series models. Jaguar's Browns Lane, United
Kingdom, assembly plant receives the Silver award, based on the Jaguar XK8 and
XJ models, representing Jaguar's first-ever plant award. Mercedes-Benz's
Sindelfingen, Germany, assembly plant captures the Bronze award, based on the
C, CL, E and S-Class models.
The 1999 Initial Quality Study 2 is based on 41,004 owners of 1999 model-
year vehicles and monitors the number of problems new-vehicle owners face
during the first three months of ownership. The study is the industry
standard benchmark of initial vehicle quality and is based on problems-per-100
vehicles covering 135 specific problem areas across nine problem categories.
Headquartered in Agoura Hills, Calif., J.D. Power and Associates is a
global marketing information services firm operating in key business sectors
including market research, forecasting and customer satisfaction. The firm's
quality and satisfaction measurements are based on actual customer responses
from more than one million consumers annually. J.D. Power and Associates has
U.S. offices in Dallas; Detroit; Torrance, Calif.; and Westport, Conn. The
firm also has international offices serving Canada, the United Kingdom/Europe
and the Asia Pacific region. J.D. Power and Associates can be accessed
through the World Wide Web at http://www.jdpower.com. Media e-mail contact:
john.pepitone@jdpower. This press release is provided for editorial use only.
No advertising or other promotional use can be made of the information in
this release or J.D. Power and Associates survey results without the express
prior written consent of J.D. Power and Associates.
J.D. Power and Associates 1999 Initial Quality Study 2(SM)
Top Three Vehicles
Per Segment in Initial Quality
Car Segments Truck Segments
Compact Car Compact Pickup
Best: Toyota Corolla Best: Dodge Dakota
Saturn SW Wagon Mazda B-Series
Nissan Sentra Ford Ranger
Entry Midsize Car Full-Size Pickup
Best: Nissan Altima Best: Ford F-Series Light Duty
Plymouth Breeze Dodge Ram Pickup
Dodge Stratus Ford F-250 Super Duty
Premium Midsize Car Mini Sport Utility Vehicle
Best: Chevrolet Lumina Best: Honda CR-V
Buick LeSabre Subaru Forester
Buick Century Toyota RAV4
Sporty Car* Compact Sport Utility Vehicle
Best: Acura Integra Best: Toyota 4Runner
Honda Prelude Dodge Durango
Mazda Miata Ford Explorer
Entry Luxury Car Full-Size Sport Utility Vehicle
Best: Infiniti I 30 Best: Toyota Land Cruiser
Saab 9-5 Chevrolet Tahoe
Mercedes-Benz C-Class Ford Expedition
Premium Luxury Car* Luxury Sport Utility Vehicle
Best: Lexus LS 400 Best: Lexus LX 470
Acura RL Infiniti QX4
Mercedes-Benz S-Class Lexus RX 300
Sports Car Compact Van
Best: Mercedes-Benz SLK Best: Toyota Sienna
Chevrolet Corvette Chrysler Town & Country
Porsche Boxster Plymouth Voyager
Source: J.D. Power and Associates 1999 Initial Quality Study 2(SM)
* Note: These award segment scores are a weighted average of two segments:
Entry and Mid-Sporty make up the Sporty Car award and Traditional Luxury and
International Luxury make up the Premium Luxury award.
Charts and graphs extracted from this press release must be accompanied
by a statement identifying J.D. Power and Associates as the publisher and the
J.D. Power and Associates 1999 Initial Quality Study 2(SM) as the source. No
advertising or other promotional use can be made of the information in this
release or J.D. Power and Associates survey results without the express prior
written consent of J.D. Power and Associates.
J.D. Power and Associates 1999 Initial Quality Study 2(SM)
1999 Assembly Plant Awards
Based on Vehicles Produced for U.S. Market
Platinum
Awards General Motors -- Flint, Michigan 102
Toyota -- Tahara, Japan 102
North
America NUMMI (Car) -- Fremont -- Silver 111
General Motors -- Oshawa-1 -- Bronze 115
Europe BMW -- Dingolfing -- Gold 107
Jaguar -- Browns Lane -- Silver 110
Mercedes-Benz -- Sindelfingen -- Bronze 121
Asia Honda (Car) -- Sayama, Japan -- Silver 105
Toyota -- Tsutsumi, Japan -- Silver 105
Source: J.D. Power and Associates 1999 Initial Quality Study 2(SM)
Charts and graphs extracted from this press release must be accompanied
by a statement identifying J.D. Power and Associates as the publisher and the
J.D. Power and Associates 1999 Initial Quality Study 2(SM) as the source. No
advertising or other promotional use can be made of the information in this
release or J.D. Power and Associates survey results without the express prior
written consent of J.D. Power and Associates.
