Japanese Cars Head List in Quality Survey
Japanese-made vehicles once again topped J.D. Power & Associates’ annual survey of new car quality, while the average quality of all 1994 cars sold in the United States declined slightly.
Toyota’s luxury Lexus division claimed the first three spots in the J.D. Power initial quality survey, which counts the number of defects reported by new car buyers during the first three months of ownership. The Lexus LS400 was No. 1 on the list released Thursday, followed by the GS300 and SC300-400 models.
Lexus cars have finished high on the J.D. Power list since they were introduced in 1990, and the LS400 has been first since 1991.
The highest-ranking American car in the 1994 survey was No. 4 Geo Prizm, a compact sedan made in California in a joint venture between Toyota and General Motors Corp. It was followed by the Acura Legend (made by Honda), Infiniti J30 (Nissan), Mercury Grand Marquis, Toyota Camry, Toyota Tercel, Lexus ES300 and Lincoln Town Car.
Car makers around the world have been focusing on quality, and the 3% decline reported by J.D. Power suggests they are getting to a point at which further improvements will come slowly.
“We may be reaching the four-minute-mile barrier in initial quality, but eventually many contenders will break it,” said J.D. Power III, president of the marketing information firm. “Some, in fact, already have.”
Lexus LS400 owners reported 32 problems per 100 cars in 1994, and four out of five reported no problems at all.
The average number of defects reported per 100 cars in the survey was 110, up from 1993’s 107. Another way to say it: The average 1994 car had 1.1 defects reported by its owner during the first three months of ownership.
Owners of light trucks reported an average of 126 problems per 100 cars--1.26 problems per vehicle, three fewer than in 1993.
Toyota Tercel, Geo Prizm, Mercury Grand Marquis, Buick Park Avenue and Lexus LS400 topped their price categories in the survey.
J.D. Power did not release rankings for light trucks, but it listed top scorers in five categories. Ford Ranger was the leading small pickup, Ford Explorer led in small sport utility vehicles and Toyota Previa led minivans. Toyota T100 was the top full-size pickup, and GMC Suburban was first among large sport utility vehicles.
The survey said Toyota’s Georgetown, Ky., plant where Camry sedans are built was the top quality assembly plant in North America. The GM-Toyota joint venture plant in Fremont, Calif., tied for second with Ford’s St. Thomas, Ontario, plant.
Six nameplates had all their models average fewer than one problem per car in the survey: Infiniti, Lexus, Lincoln, Mercedes-Benz, Saturn and Toyota.
David R. Sargent, senior project director at J.D. Power, said it was difficult to characterize the changes recorded in this year’s survey.
“What we found was the models that were performing extremely well last year improved in quality. But the models in the middle of the pack--some improved and some declined,” he said.
The J.D. Power Initial Quality Studies were based on questionnaires answered by about 32,000 car buyers and 12,000 truck buyers who registered 1994 vehicles in November and December, 1993.
The survey differs from J.D. Power’s customer satisfaction survey, which measures buyers’ satisfaction with dealerships and the repair and reliability records of cars and light trucks after one year of ownership.
J.D. Power reports are widely used by car makers to tout specific models in advertising.
