Korea beats Japan in JD Power survey

Optima is top selling Kia model in the United States.

Optima is top selling Kia model in the United States.

Published Jun 26, 2015

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Westlake Village, California - With a significant year-over-year improvement, Korean brands have continued to widen the quality gap to other automakers, while Japanese brands collectively rell below the industry average for the first time in 29 years, according to this year’s JD Power Initial Quality Study of cars sold in the United States.

The study examines problems experienced by vehicle owners during the first 90 days of ownership. Initial quality is determined by the number of problems experienced per 100 vehicles, with a lower score reflecting higher quality.

Overall the vehicles in the study experienced a three percent year-over-year improvement in initial quality, averaging 112 PP100 compared with 116 PP100 in 2014.

Korean brands lead the industry in initial quality by the widest margin yet, averaging 90 PP100, which is an 11 PP100 improvement from 2014. For the first time in the study, European brands (113 PP100) outperformed Japanese brands (114 PP100), while American makes (114 PP100) equalled the Japanese for only a second time.

Although Japanese brands overall experienced a 2 PP100 improvement from 2014, this has proven insufficient to keep pace with the industry, causing Japanese makes overall to fall below industry average for the first time in the 29-year history of the US Initial Quality Study. Only four of the 10 Japanese brands included in the study post an improvement.

JD Power vice-president for US automotive quality Renee Stephens said: “This is a clear shift in the quality landscape.

“For so long, Japanese brands have been viewed by many as the gold standard in vehicle quality. While the Japanese automakers continue to make improvements, we’re seeing other brands, most notably Korean makes, really accelerating the rate of improvement. Leading companies are not only stepping up the pace of improvements on existing models, but are also working up front to launch vehicles with higher quality and more intuitive designs.”

ELECTRONIC PROBLEMS

The study found that entertainment and connectivity systems remained the most problem-prone area for a third consecutive year, with voice recognition and Bluetooth pairing continuing to top the problem list.

“Smartphones have set high customer expectations of how well technology should work, and automakers are struggling to match that success in their new vehicles,” said Stephens. “However, we are seeing some brands make important improvements along the way. What’s clear is that they can’t afford to wait for the next generation of models to launch before making important updates to these systems.”

Porsche ranked highest in initial quality for a third consecutive year, posting a score of 80 PP100. With a 20 PP100 improvement from 2014, Kia follows Porsche in the rankings at 86 PP100. This marks the first time in the history of the study that Kia has led all non-premium makes in initial quality.

Jaguar (93 PP100), Hyundai (95 PP100) and Infiniti (97 PP100) completed the top five nameplates. Infiniti was one of the most improved brands in the study, lowering its problem score by 31 PP100 from 2014.

BMW’s South African Rosslyn plant, which produces the BMW 3 Series, received the Platinum Plant Quality Award for producing models with the fewest defects or malfunctions.

Star Motoring

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