The latest J.D. Power rankings of initial quality reveals some interesting things to the objective observer. These figures represent the number of problems per 100 vehicles. Here are the 2008 rankings for the 36 top nameplates:

1. Porsche: 87 2. Infiniti: 98 3. Lexus: 99 4. Mercedes-Benz:104 5. Toyota: 104 6. Mercury: 109 7. Honda: 110 8. Ford: 112
9. Jaguar: 112 10. Audi: 113 11. Cadillac: 113 12. Chevrolet:113 13. Hyundai: 114 14. Pontiac: 114 15. Lincoln: 115 16 Buick: 118 —Industry Average: 118
17. Acura: 119 18. Kia: 119 19. Nissan: 124 20. Volvo: 124
21. BMW: 126 22. GMC: 127 23. Mazda: 127 24. Volkswagen: 128
25. Hummer: 132 26. Subaru: 133 27. Scion: 138 28. Dodge: 141 29. Chrysler: 142 30. Mitsubishi: 149 31. Saab: 149
32. Suzuki: 152 33. Saturn: 157 34. Land Rover: 161
35. Mini: 163 36. Jeep: 167

So, Infiniti continues the sensational roll it has been on since the release of the first G35, moving up from 9th in 2007, Land Rover continues in it’s traditional category ‘terrible’, and VW is below average as always despite being the slowest depreciate-or of all( brand loyalty carries some HEAVY weight!).

The rate of improvement in these ratings has been steady for years, and this year it is an impressive 6% overall.

One immediately noticeable fact to a math gee-…um, fan like myself is that the bad ones are REALLY bad, with Saturn, Land Rover, Mini, and Jeep coming out with truly abominable scores.

More on this coming soon…

You Should Also Check Out This Post:

More Active Posts: