Korean Brands Dominate Initial Quality Study, But Porsche’s 911 Comes Out On Top

For the second year in a row, Korean brands have dominated J.D. Power’s Initial Quality Study.

Genesis had the highest initial quality as they only had 63 problems per 100 vehicles within the first 90 days of ownership. That’s significantly less than the industry average of 93 PP100 (problems per 100 vehicles).

Genesis was closely followed by Kia and Hyundai which had 70 and 71 problems per 100 vehicles, respectively. Rounding out the top five were Ford (83 PP100) and Lincoln (84 PP100).

While Korea brands came out on top, domestic automakers performed pretty well this time around. Besides Ford and Lincoln, Chevrolet (85 PP100), Dodge (90 PP100) and Buick (92 PP100) all scored better than the industry average.

On the flip side, German brands fared poorly. Mercedes (94 PP100) and Porsche (96 PP100) were slightly below the industry average, but BMW (102 PP110), Audi (106 PP100), MINI (107 PP100) and Volkswagen (113 PP100) were all pretty far off.

However, they weren’t the worst as that dubious honor goes to Jaguar (130 PP100). The company finished slightly ahead of sister brand Land Rover which had 123 problems per 100 vehicles.

Also Read: 2020 Porsche 911 Is New And More Powerful, But Oh, So Familiar

In terms of individual models, the Porsche 911 was best overall with a score of 58 PP100. Other winners included the Kia Rio, BMW 2-Series, Kia Forte and MINI Cooper. Rounding out the top cars are the Genesis G70, Chevrolet Malibu, Ford Fusion, Dodge Challenger, Nissan Maxima and Mercedes CLS.

On the crossover side, class wins went to the Chevrolet Equinox, Chevrolet Tahoe, Kia Sportage and Hyundai Santa Fe. On the luxury side, winners included the BMW X4, Lexus RX and Cadillac Escalade.

Other winners include the Kia Sedona, Nissan Titan and Chevrolet Silverado HD.

While 13 brands improved in this year’s study, 18 did worse. This caused the industry average to remain unchanged at 93 PP100.

In a statement, J.D. Power’s Vice President of Global Automotive said “Automakers continue to make progress in areas like infotainment that attract a lot of consumer attention. However, some traditional problems crept up this year including paint imperfections, brake and suspension noises, engines not starting and the ‘check engine’ light coming on early in the ownership experience.”