Detroit – Ford supplanted Toyota as the leader of the pack in initial-quality rankings, taking the top spot in five of 19 segments in the 2007 survey by J.D. Power and Associates released Wednesday.
Porsche again dominated the overall ranking of brands, averaging 91 problems per 100 vehicles as it did last year. That compared with a 2007 industry average of 125 problems per 100 vehicles. Last year, it was 124.
Ford Motor Co. earned segment awards for the Ford Mustang, Lincoln Mark LT, Lincoln MKZ, Mercury Milan and Mazda MX-5 Miata.
Mazda is 33.4 percent owned by Ford.
Toyota Motor Corp., which grabbed the top spot in 11 segments last year, captured only four this year – the 4Runner, Sequoia, Tacoma and Lexus RX350/RX400h.
Ford’s Lincoln brand took third in overall nameplate rankings, averaging 100 problems per 100 vehicles. It was behind Porsche and Toyota’s Lexus luxury brand, which averaged 94 problems per 100 vehicles.
Lincoln is up from 12th in 2006.
“We saw dramatic improvement from Lincoln,” said Neal Oddes, J.D. Power’s director of product research and analysis. “It was a fantastic year for the Mercury Milan, with dramatic improvements in terms of defects.”
Overall, he said, Ford’s strength came from new launches such as the Edge, the MKX and the MKZ.
Toyota had seen its list of quality leaders slip in a study released Monday by Strategic Vision Inc., a San Diego-based market-research company and consultant to automakers.
Despite improving its overall quality, Toyota led in one category in that study – down from four in 2006. South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor Co. led in five categories, outperforming its Japanese, European and U.S. competitors. Last year, it had no winners.
Joe Ivers, J.D. Power’s executive director of quality and customer satisfaction, said there’s no clear answer for Toyota’s drop. But several vehicles brought its quality performance down this year, including the Corolla, Prius and Lexus models.
It is worth noting, he said, that Toyota executives have been speaking publicly about their concerns about managing to maintain the company’s historically high quality during a time of rapid growth.
“We’re not used to seeing their vehicles go backward from a quality standpoint, and several of them did,” he said. “It’s no big change, but when things go backward for Toyota, it’s unusual.”
In the J.D. Power survey, Hyundai fell from third overall to 12th. Oddes said the Santa Fe was disappointing but the redesigned Elantra performed well.
Ivers said Mercedes-Benz’s improvements have been significant and speedy across its product line. It grabbed the top spot in three segments, and notable was its S-Class going from “worst to first” – in a launch year.
“A lot of people avoid buying a vehicle in its first year of production, but Mercedes, with its S-Class, got everything right,” he said. “When I look at this data, it’s hard for me to escape the conclusion that Mercedes is trying to reclaim its traditional quality leadership position.”
For the study, Westlake Village, Calif.-based J.D. Power collected responses from more than 97,000 buyers and lessees of new 2007 model year vehicles after 90 days of ownership.
released its annual survey of initial quality for 2007 model-year vehicles, based on questionnaires sent to new-vehicle owners. The top performers:
Subcompact: Kia Rio/Rio5; runners-up, Honda Fit, Hyundai Accent
Compact: Honda Civic; runners-up, Toyota Corolla, Hyundai Elantra sedan
Compact sporty: Mazda MX-5 Miata; runners-up, Scion tC, Subaru Impreza
Compact premium sporty: Porsche Boxster; runners-up, Mercedes-Benz CLK-Class, Mercedes-Benz SLK-Class
Entry premium: Lincoln MKZ; runners-up, Acura TSX, Cadillac CTS
Midsize premium: Mercedes-Benz E-Class; runners-up, Lexus GS 350/GS 430/GS 450H; Infiniti M-Series, Volvo S80
Large premium: Audi A8, Mercedes-Benz S-Class; runner-up, Lexus LS 460
Premium sporty: Mercedes-Benz SL-Class; runners-up, Porsche 911, Lexus SC 430
Midsize sporty: Ford Mustang; runners-up, Toyota Solara, Chevrolet Monte Carlo
Midsize: Mercury Milan; runners-up, Honda Accord; Ford Fusion, Mitsubishi Galant
Large: Pontiac Grand Prix; runners-up, Toyota Avalon; Ford Five Hundred, Mercury Montego
Compact multi-use: Honda CR-V; runner-up, Nissan Xterra, Hyundai Tucson
Midsize MAV: Toyota 4Runner; runners-up, Toyota Highlander, Mercury Mountaineer
Large MAV: Toyota Sequoia; runners-up, Chevrolet Suburban, GMC Yukon
Midsize premium MAV: Lexus RX 350/RX 400h; runners-up, Lincoln MKX, Lexus GX 470
Large premium MAV: Lincoln Mark LT; runners-up, Lincoln Navigator, Hummer H2
Large pickup: Chevrolet Silverado Classic HD; runners-up, Ford F-150 LD, GMC Sierra LD
Midsize pickup: Toyota Tacoma; runners-up, Honda Ridgeline, Dodge Dakota
Van: Chevrolet Express; runners-up, Kia Sedona, Ford E-Series
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
