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Click above for results 2008 J.D. Power Dependability Study

J.D. Power and Associates has just released its 2008 Vehicle Dependability Study that attempts to measure vehicle quality throughout the first three years of owning a vehicle, and for the 14th year in a row Lexus leads all manufacturers with a rating of just 120 problems per 100 vehicles (PP100). This year's runner up, surprisingly, is Mercury, though it's a distant second at 151 PP100. Cadillac (155 PP100), Toyota (159 PP100) and Acura (160 PP100) round out the top five spots for brands. Lexus also had the most segment leaders with six vehicles leading their respective category, while Toyota tacked on another five. The study also says that long-term vehicle quality has also improved 5% across the industry in 2008, with the industry average dropping 10 PP100 down to 206 this year.

The Vehicle Dependability Study is based on surveys taken of 52,000 original owners of 2005 model year vehicles. Take whatever stock you will in it, as some argue that subjectivity can skew the results. For instance, Lexus owners may tend to report that their vehicles are running just fine out of pride and loyalty to their brand. Nevertheless, J.D. Power's complete press release and results for the industry and each segment category can be found after the jump and in the gallery below.


[Source: J.D. Power and Associates]

We really didn't expect good news... J.D. Power and Associates, the global information services company who seem to have highly regarded insight within the industry, is predicting auto sales this year to hit short of their original estimates. According to the firm, declining consumer confidence, lower spending, and turbulent financial and economic market conditions will contribute to an anticipated drop in new light-vehicle sales in 2008 that will put total sales at their lowest level since 1994.

U.S. light-vehicle automotive sales as recently as 2000 and 2001 topped 17 million units and retail sales last year were a more disappointing 16.2 million units. It was originally assumed that sales in 2008 would even lower, at 15.7 million units. Now, weak retail and fleet sales have driven that number down to J.D. Power's estimate of 14.95 million units.

Press Release after the jump.

[Source: J.D. Power and Associates]

J.D. Power & Associates, the biggest name in rating everything related to buying and owning cars, has released its rankings of automaker websites. The ratings, which J.D. Power releases twice a year, takes into account the feedback of more than 11,000 online new car shoppers over the course of two months, basing their scores on user-friendliness, content and overall appearance.

While you'd be forgiven for thinking that Japanese companies would have the best websites in the industry, this half's survey placed American automakers at the top of the list yet again. GM's HUMMER division retained its place at the top, just two points ahead of Lincoln. Kia came in third ahead of Honda and Mazda which tied for fourth, while Jeep, Acura, Lexus, Saab and Toyota rounded out the Top 10. We visit our fair share of automaker websites and have found some to be more intuitive than others. Your thoughts are welcome in the comments below.

[Source: JDPower.com via Winding Road]

The J.D. Power people compiled their annual list of automaker customer retention rates, and Toyota came out on top, followed closely behind by General Motors. Almost 69-percent of Toyota owners continued their relationship with the manufacturer, compared to GM whose owners returned to the automaker's brands about 65-percent of the time. Honda came in third, with 63.3-percent, while BMW and Ford following closely behind at 56.9-percent and 54.4-percent respectively.

It deserves note, however, that Toyota, GM, Honda, BMW and Ford all benefit from having a number of companies under their corporate umbrella. The way J.D. Power comes to its conclusions is to include each automaker's individual brands within the parent company. So Scion owners are likely to upgrade to a Toyota, Chevy owners might buy a Buick, and MINI buyers might take a step up into the newest 3-series – all of which skews the figures in favor of larger manufacturers.

However, lacking a large brand portfolio is hardly an excuse for Isuzu, who only came away from the survey with a 1.6-percent retention rate.

[Source: J.D. Power and Associates via CNNMoney]

The General's chief product guru, Bob Lutz, responded to questions regarding GM's reliability in the company's FastLane Blog's most recent video Q&A chapter. According to Lutz, who cites comparisons to company "H" and company "T" as being perpetual reliability yardsticks, GM has aimed at making every component throughout the automaker's brands "bulletproof," including the engines, transmissions and every mechanical part imaginable.

The move began about four or five years ago, and despite high ratings in J.D. Power and Associates initial quality reports, Lutz explains that all the money spent was in an effort to "shoot for infinite life," as opposed to what Lutz calls, "100,000-mile bogies."

Lutz goes on to recount his aim of making Buick the American equivalent of Lexus, which was just confirmed with the recent release of J.D. Power and Associates long-term reliability ratings. Buick sat pretty, right next to Lexus. Mission accomplished Bob. Congrats.

[Source: GM FastLane Blog]

A J.D. Power and Associates study reveals that before the end of the decade, vehicle sales in the Asia Pacific region will surpass those in the European arena – the largest market in the world.

Although the report is nothing surprising considering the booming market in China and the surrounding economies, the figures are astounding. Projected auto sales in Europe through the end of the year will amount to 21.5 million, while sales in the Asia-Pacific realm will wind up around 19.2 million. However, by 2009, our neighbors to the west (or east, depending on your perspective) will be buying up over 23 million vehicles, compared to Europe, whose sales are projected to be around 22.7 million.

Investment opportunities are abound, so place your bets now and it's likely that you won't be disappointed.

The full report, complete with pretty charts, is available by clicking the "Read" link below.

[Source: J.D. Power and Associates]

You have to hand it to the folks at Jaguar. In the face of sales dwindling to almost nothing, its dealers and service staff manage to still do their jobs well and delight their customers. In the 2007 Customer Service Index Study released by J.D. Power and Associates today, Jaguar was rated number one in customer service, scoring 925 out of 1,000.

Adding ammo to the argument that domestic automakers are making a comeback in significant areas like customer service, the top five spots in this year's 2007 CSI Study are occupied by automakers from the U.S.A., not counting Lexus, which tied for third place with Cadillac. Buick came in second, while Mercury and Saturn earned the fourth and fifth positions, respectively.

One interesting finding of the study was that Toyota earned a relatively low score of 858 out of 1,000, which was only good enough for a three-way tie for 22nd place with Ford and Chrysler. All three were below the industry average of 876 points out of 1,000. While Ford and Chrysler placing so low could be explained by a number of factors, including the general feeling of malaise among their respective workforces in the face of each company's financial troubles, Toyota's placement might be explained by the fact it just doesn't have enough service centers to adequately meet the demands of its ever growing customer base. Ford, at least, can be happy with the fact that today's news may have increased the value of Jaguar, which is up for sale, by at least $50 or so.

[Source: J.D. Power and Associates]

Hot on the heels of the 2007 Strategic Vision Total Quality Awards, J.D. Power and Associates has released its 2007 Initial Quality Study. You'll no doubt be hearing about how well Ford has done in this year's IQS, as J.D. Power reports the Blue Oval has garnered five top model segment awards, more than any other automaker. Those models include the Ford Mustang, Lincoln Mark LT, Lincoln MKZ, Mercury Milan and the Mazda MX-5.

Indeed, Ford did very well this year, with the Lincoln brand improving from 12th place to 3rd, Mercury from 17th to 8th and Ford jumping from 16th to 10th. We take umbrage, however, with J.D. Power choosing to include the Mazda MX-5 in Ford's list of segment leaders. Ford owns a controlling 33% stake in Mazda, but doesn't include the Japanese brand's sales among its own at the end of the month, and neither does the Japanese-built MX-5 share its plaform with any other Ford models. And, while rattling off how well each Ford brand ranked, J.D. Power doesn't mention that Mazda ranked 35th, second to last ahead of Land Rover, another Ford brand. Still, even without including the MX-5, Ford's four segment leaders is still more than any other automaker. Mercedes-Benz and Toyota each had three.

J.D. Power also gives out Assembly Plant Awards, and in a surprising twist of fate, Ford's Wixom assembly plant that shut its doors forever this past week became the first North American assembly plant to earn the Platinum Plant Quality award for producing vehicles with the fewest defects. We suppose that means 2007 Lincoln Town Car owners are in for some trouble-free times with their cars.

You can check out the complete rankings in the gallery below and read the official press release from J.D. Power and Associates after the jump.

[Source: J.D. Power & Associates]

The Jaguar brand earned German motoring magazine Auto Zeitung's top quality award. The Jaguar XK has earned "Car of the Year" and "Luxury Car of the Year" honors at the 2006 UK TV People Awards, the title of "Scottish Car of the Year" by The Association of Scottish Motoring Writers, and the Recommended 2007 Award in the Premium Sporty/Performance Car category by Consumer Guide. Now comes word that J.D. Power and Associates just found Jaguar at the top of the heap in Sales Satisfaction for a 3rd consecutive year. That's a lot of accolades for a relatively small manufacturer, and it illustrates perfectly how awards and high sales don't always go hand in hand.

But let's take a look at this newest award. The J.D. Power and Associates 2006 Sales Satisfaction Index (SSI) Study is the one that focuses on the purchase experience. Jaguar ranked highest again, besting Cadillac by 21 points. In the process, Jaguar received the highest score ever recorded in the study. Well, at least since it was redesigned five years ago. Although the whole industry showed improvement this year, the study found that buyers are more likely than ever to walk when they receive bad service. So even if the product is good, dealers need to be on their best behavior. There's a chart that shows where every brand landed after the jump.

[Source: J.D. Power]

J.D. Power and Associates has released the results of its 2006 Customer Service Index Study that measures which brands have the best service departments. Not surprisingly, Lexus nabbed the top spot with a CSI score of 912. Whoa, but there's Buick right behind it with a score of 911, followed by Cadillac with 909. The bottom of the list is occupied by Isuzu with a score of 781, some 29 points below Volkswagen's 810. Of note: six out of the top ten service departments came from domestic brands.

The Customer Service Index Study measures quality of service in the areas of service initiation, service adviser, in-dealership experience, service delivery, service quality and user-friendly service. Survey responses were gathered from 79,580 owners of model year 2003 through 2005 vehicles.

(Follow the jump for the complete list)

[Source: Automotive News]