J.D.Power 2008 Dependability Survey is out
J.D. Power and Associates has just released its 2008 Vehicle Dependability Study that measures vehicle quality in the first three years of owning a vehicle brand. The study also says that long-term vehicle quality has also improved 5% across the industry in 2008, with the industry average dropping 10 PP100 down to 206 this year. Their full list is rather interesting.
For the 14th year in a row, Lexus is in the lead. The most reliable brands include the usual Toyota and Honda nameplates, with some surprise coming in the form of American brands such Cadillac and Mercury. Jaguar and BMW seem to have improved, overtaking Porsche and Infiniti. Notice that Nissan is below the industry average, most likely due to their American-built models and cost-cutting measures. Mazda, Kia and Subaru are also surprisingly low in the rankings, considering Mitsubishi and Hyundai are above-average.
The Vehicle Dependability Study is based on surveys taken of 52,000 original owners of 2005 model year vehicles.
