J.D. Power Survey Shows Ford Passing Toyota in Quality

Ford has passed Toyota as the leader of the pack in the initial quality rankings conducted by J.D. Power and Associates in a survey result that the firm released just recently. Porsche was able to again dominate the overall ranking of brands averaging 91 problems per 100 vehicles and comparing that with the 2007 industry average of 125 problems per 100 vehicles, the German sportscar maker has recorded lesser problems as compared to what it has obtained last year with 124 problems per 100 vehicles.

Ford Motor Corporation the major stockholder of the Mazda PCV valve maker, Mazda with a total of 33.4 percent stakes has earned segment awards for the Ford Mustang, Lincoln Mark LT, Lincoln MKZ, Mercury Milan, and Mazda MX-5 Miata.

On the other hand, Toyota Motor Corporation that previously grabbed the top spot in 11 categories was able to snap only four top spot this year with its 4Runner, Sequoia, Tacoma, and Lexus RX350/RX400h.

Ford's Lincoln brand ranked third place in overall nameplate rankings with an average of 100 problems per 100 vehicles. It was lagging behind Porsche and Toyota's Lexus luxury brand with average of 94 problems per 100 vehicles. It can be remembered that last year, 2006 Lincoln was in the 12th position and its remarkable jumped to third place this year simply shows the improvement in quality that the brand has achieved.

Unfortunately for Toyota its list of quality leaders has declined in their qualities based on the study released last Monday by Strategic Vision, a San Diego-based market research company and consultant to automakers.

Aside from Ford, Hyundai Motor a South Korean automaker, which didn't have any winning entries last year, has surprised the rest of its competitors when it led in five categories this year outperforming its European, Japanese, and US rivals.

Joe Ivers, J.D. Power's Executive Director of Quality and Customer Satisfaction has said that there's no clear answer for the sudden decline in quality of Toyota's cars that includes the Corolla, Prius, and Lexus models.

It is also worth noting according to Ivers that Toyota executives have been speaking publicly about their concerns on how to manage the high quality of Toyota vehicles during rapid growth.

The result from the J.D. Power survey shows that Hyundai dropped from third place to 12th. Oddes explained that the re-launched of vehicles such as the Santa Fe did not turned out the way the automaker has expected fortunately Elantra performed well init segment.

The J.D. Power survey result also shows Lincoln followed by Honda, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar, and Toyota. Land Rover together with Saab and Mercedes-Benz has the most improved nameplates basing on the survey.

J.D. Power survey was based on data collected from more than 97,000 buyers and leases of new 2007 vehicles after 90 days of ownership.