The results of JD Power’s industry-leading reliability study are back in. Lexus takes the absolute lead back and Kia is also doing good business.
Every year, research firm JD Power presents the results of its ‘Vehicle Dependability Study’, which examines the reliability of cars. This is done by counting the number of problems per 100 vehicles (Problems Per 100, PP100) in the past twelve months. This concerns cars that are three years old at the time of the study, because such a study for brand new cars says little about the reliability in the long term.
Genesis
JD Power operates in the US, so it should be kept in mind that these are purely brands and models that can be found on the US car market. Still, the results are interesting. Not surprisingly, Japanese brands consistently score well. This is especially true for Lexus, which almost ends by default at the top. Last year, however, was different, as Lexus’ South Korean competitor Genesis took off with the cup. The luxury brand from Hyundai drops to eighth place this year, but still has segment winners at the model level.
Volume brands
JD Power distinguishes between luxury brands and volume brands. In the latter category, Kia takes the win, leaving even Toyota behind. As a group, the Korean brands, with 99 problems per 100 vehicles, are even better than the Japanese, which reach 118 PP100. JD Power calculates all Asian brands together on average 115 ‘PP100’, while American brands together average 126 PP100. European makes are the least successful category, with an average of 131 problems per 100 vehicles.
Porsche
However, a positive exception in the relatively unreliable European offer is Porsche. The 911 is not only the most reliable car in its category, but even the most reliable model ‘overall’ and pushes Porsche to second place on the JD Powers ranking.