Kia, Hyundai lead auto industry in initial quality: J.D. Power and Associates

South Korean brands continue to widen the quality gap with other automakers, while Japanese makes collectively fall below industry average for the first time in 29 years, a U.S.-based global marketing information services firm said.

Porsche ranks highest in initial quality for a third consecutive year, posting a score of 80 PP100, followed by Kia with 86 PP100, a 20 PP100 improvement from 2014, J.D. Power and Associates said in a press release Wednesday (local time). This marks the first time in the history of the study that Kia has led all non-premium makes in initial quality.

Jaguar comes in third with 93 PP100, while Hyundai and Infiniti place fourth and fifth with 95 PP100 and 97 PP100, respectively, according to the J.D. Power 2015 U.S. Initial Quality StudySM (IQS). Infiniti is one of the most improved brands in the study, lowering its problem score by 31 PP100 from 2014.

The study examines problems experienced by vehicle owners during the first 90 days of ownership. Initial quality is determined by the number of problems experienced per 100 vehicles (PP100), with a lower score reflecting higher quality.

European brands (113 PP100) surpass Japanese brands (114 PP100), the study said. "Although Japanese brands overall experience a 2 PP100 improvement from 2014, this has proven insufficient to keep pace with the industry, causing Japanese makes overall to fall below industry average for the first time in the 29-year history of the U.S. Initial Quality Study."

“This is a clear shift in the quality landscape,” said Renee Stephens, vice president of U.S. automotive quality at J.D. Power. “For so long, Japanese brands have been viewed by many as the gold standard in vehicle quality. While the Japanese automakers continue to make improvements, we’re seeing other brands, most notably Korean makes, really accelerating the rate of improvement. Leading companies are not only stepping up the pace of improvements on existing models, but are also working up front to launch vehicles with higher quality and more intuitive designs.”

Park Sae-jin swatchsjp@ajunews.com

Kia, Hyundai lead auto industry in initial quality: J.D. Power and Associates

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