Dodge Is Appealing As Porsche, But Tesla Reigns Supreme In Latest Study

J.D. Power has released their U.S. Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout (APEAL) study, which found that consumers have fallen in love with a number of new vehicles including the Chevrolet Tahoe and Ford Mustang Mach-E.

Designed to measure an “owners’ emotional attachment and level of excitement with their new vehicle,” the study asks them to consider 37 different attributes and their responses are then used to calculate an overall score on a 1,000 point scale.

With that basic primer out of the way, let’s dive into the results. One of the key takeaways is mainstream brands have increased their appeal and owner satisfaction to narrow the gap with premium brands. Only 19 points separated them this year, which is down from 23 points a year ago.

Also Read: New Vehicle Satisfaction Improves As Mass Market Brands Close The Gap On Luxury Automakers

Dodge was once again named the most appealing mass market brand as they received a score of 882. This puts them on par with Porsche and that’s pretty impressive when you consider Dodge’s lineup isn’t exactly fresh.

Interestingly, the brand with the highest appeal is Tesla as they received a score of 893. That’s a small decline from last year, but the automaker isn’t officially ranked because “Tesla doesn’t grant J.D. Power permission to survey its owners in 15 states where it is required.”

As a result, the top brands were Porsche and Dodge which tied at 882. They were followed by Ram (881) as well as Genesis (879) and Land Rover (879). On the topic of Genesis, they climbed the most in the premium rankings. Toyota was the biggest mover on the mass market side, while Nissan gained the most index points thanks to a 22 point improvement from a year ago.

On the model-level side of things, GM had the most winners as the Cadillac CT5, Chevrolet Blazer, Chevrolet Corvette, Chevrolet Tahoe, and GMC Sierra HD all got top marks. They were followed by BMW with four models including the 4-Series, X4, X6 and X7.

Nissan and the Hyundai Motor Group had three models receive awards including the Maxima, Sentra, and Versa as well as the Genesis G80, Kia K5, and Kia Telluride. Rounding out the award winners were the Ford Bronco Sport, Ford Mustang Mach-E, Mercedes CLA, Honda Ridgeline, Land Rover Defender, Ram 1500, Toyota Sienna and Volvo XC40.

J.D. Power’s director of global automotive said, “One of the biggest factors driving the industry’s improvement this year is the introduction of several highly appealing new models.” David Amodeo went on to say, “The new launches demonstrate that automakers are getting even better at hitting buyers’ emotional triggers.”