Ford Motor Co.’s Taurus and General Motors Co.’s Chevrolet Camaro helped U.S. automakers outperform imported vehicles for the first time since 1997 in J.D. Power and Associates’ annual study of vehicle appeal.
Ford vehicles topped five segments, the most of any brand in the report released Thursday. Toyota Motor Corp., which recalled 8 million vehicles globally in the past year, received the second-lowest ranking for its namesake brand.
Vehicles with high scores in consumer appeal generate faster sales and higher profit margins and need fewer sales incentives and less marketing, said Dave Sargent, J.D. Power’s vice president of global vehicle research.
“If you have an appealing product, customers will pay more for it,” Sargent said. “It’s a culmination of a lot of work the domestics have done in launching new or heavily redesigned products.”
The Taurus, Fusion, Expedition, Flex and Explorer Sport Trac won categories for Dearborn, Mich.- based Ford. The Taurus and GM’s Chevrolet Avalanche were the only vehicles to win their segments in vehicle appeal and last month’s initial- quality survey, J.D. Power said.
GM models won three segments, and the Detroit-based automaker’s Buick brand was the highest-rated mass-market nameplate in the overall rankings, according to J.D. Power. The Camaro won the midsize sporty-car category.
