By Joe Benton
ConsumerAffairs.com
June 6, 2007
The Ford Motor Co. received some badly needed good news when five Ford vehicles placed at the top of their categories in initial quality, according to a survey released by J.D. Power and Associates.
The 2007 J.D. Power Initial Quality Study looks at both manufacturing defects and design problems in new cars as reported by their owners.
The Ford Mustang ranked as the most problem-free "sporty car" in the survey while the Mercury Milan was the highest ranked mid-sized car and the closely related Lincoln MKZ was the top-ranked "Entry premium car."
The Lincoln Mark LT, a luxury version of the Ford F150 truck, was the top-ranked SUV and the Mazda MX-5 Miata was the top-ranked "compact sporty car." Ford owns a controlling interest in Mazda.
All three of Ford's U.S.-based brands earned above-average marks for quality. Ford's European luxury car brand Jaguar ranked sixth.
Porsche was the top brand in the survey with 91 problems per 100 vehicles. The average car in the survey had 125 problems per 100 vehicles. The Porsche Boxster was the top-ranked "premium sporty car," according to the survey.
The second-ranked brand overall was Toyota-owned Lexus followed by Lincoln, Honda and Mercedes-Benz.
No GM brands earned above-average scores in the survey. GM's best-ranking brand was Buick with 127 problems per 100 vehicles, a score that placed it just below average.
The highest ranking brand from DaimlerChrysler's U.S.-based division, the Chrysler Group, was Chrysler. Chrysler had 151 problems per 100 vehicles, placing it well below average.
At the bottom of the scale, Ford's luxury SUV division, Land Rover, ranked last of all brands with 170 problems per 100 vehicles. Still, that represents a reduction of 34 problems per 100 vehicles from last year.
