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Ford climbs to top in quality while Toyota plunges in annual study
Surging Ford has moved into top spot in quality among non-luxury automakers while Toyota plunged after years of stellar performances, according to a key industry study.
The annual J.D. Power and Associates study of initial quality showed Thursday that Ford’s emphasis in recent years on building better autos is paying off again after it posted the least amount of defects per model for the first time in 24 years.
Ford, whose fortunes have jumped in the last year, improved to fifth from eighth spot overall behind four luxury auto makers but Toyota tumbled from seventh to 21th place,
“The blue oval is becoming synonymous with high quality,” said Bennie Fowler, Ford’s vice-president responsible for quality and new model launches.
The study, which automakers and consumers watch closely, measures the responses of 82,000 U.S. motorists in a 128-question survey on the quality of their new vehicles after 90 days of ownership between February and May.
Despite Toyota’s overall fall, the company’s Cambridge South assembly operation won J.D. Power’s “Gold Plant Quality Award” as the best production factory in North and South America with the fewest defects and malfunctions in building its Lexus luxury models.
“The award is important because it represents the voice of the customer,” said Ray Tanguay, president of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada.”We’re honoured to be recognized as one of the greatest manufacturing teams in the world.”
The Cambridge plant just fell short of winning J.D.Power’s “Platinum Award” as the best assembly plant in the world. A plant in South Africa which builds Mercedes-Benz cars won that award.
Toyota’s sharp overall decline particularly in North America mirrors a series of high-profile recalls that have damaged the company’s reputation and allowed rivals to make gains.
Dave Sargent, J.D. Power’s vice-president of global vehicle research, noted that in addition to the Toyota line in Cambridge, the General Motors car plant in Oshawa also performed well again among about 80 factories on the two continents The Oshawa plant, which produces the Chevrolet Impala, had finished second on the two continents in last year’s study.
Honda’s operation in Alliston that makes Acura products also finished high in the rankings, Sargent said.
The study found that North American-based brands demonstrated higher initial quality than imports for the first time with noticeable improvements in models such as Ford Focus, Ram 1500 light duty truck and Buick Enclave.
The study by the prominent marketing, forecasting and consumer research agency showed Ford’s initial quality has improved steadily for nine consecutive years.
Ford has 12 models that rank in the top three in their segments, more than any other automaker. GM has 10 models in the top three of their segments.
Among nameplates, luxury carmakers Porsche, Acura, Mercedes-Benz and Lexus posted the least amount of defects. Second place Acura made the biggest gain, jumping from 14th spot in 2009.
Hyundai, which has been setting sales records in Canada for several years, slipped in initial quality to seventh place from fourth spot in 2009 while Chevrolet tumbled to 14th position from ninth. Cadillac dropped to 13th place from third last year.
Honda retained fifth spot but Nissan slipped two places to 15th place. Mazda climbed to 19th position from 25th while Kia dropped to 26th from 16.
Chrysler remains below the industry average but it improved to 23th place from 31st spot. However its Jeep and Dodge brands are still near the bottom of the rankings.
J.D. Power said initial quality scores by U.S. brands in 2010 contrasted sharply with consumer sentiments from one year ago. The agency collected information between May and July 2009 that revealed most of the on-line consumer discussion focused around difficulties that U.S. automakers are facing and perceptions that poor product quality caused it.
“Domestic automakers have made impressive strides in steadily improving vehicle quality particularly since 2007,” said Sargent.
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