quality

Kia is a long way from hawking the anonymous lozenge known as the Sephia on our shores. That was only 1994, though, and in less than 20 years the company has gone from judging its aspirations against Japanese budget competition to walking auto show floors checking out the German standard-bearers ...

A revised methodology in devising its annual Car Brand Report Cards has seen Consumer Reports award Lexus its top overall ranking for 2013. For the first time ever, the institute broke out individual brands from their larger corporate umbrellas, meaning car makers like Lexus and Scion were judged ...

Global marketing and communications firm Strategic Vision has announced the results of its annual Total Quality Index. In the 2012 edition of the study, Volkswagen Group of America achieved the highest rating in Total Quality. This marks the German automaker's second year of achieving the ...

Why No One Quality Report Tells The Whole Story Quality remains one of the most significant factors for folks buying a new car. There's no question that fuel economy has become a critical consideration for most folks looking to buy a new car. But quality remains one of the single most ...

Technology can be a fickle thing for automotive companies. Done right, tech can help sell cars. Done badly, and tech can sink a whole company's image. Ford is battling just that problem. Its Sync tech has certainly contributed to healthy sales recently, but customers started to complain with the ...

ALG reports both Ford and Hyundai have seen substantial jumps in their respective perceived quality, with the Blue Oval enjoying a 37 percent jump since 2008. Hyundai, meanwhile, has seen its figures increase by 25 percent over the same five years. For industry watchers, the news should offer no ...

Remember the days of planned obsolescence? They're over. The latest J.D. Power Vehicle Dependability Study shows a 13-percent improvement in new car dependability over the first three years of ownership. The latest sample of 2009 model year vehicles shows the lowest rate of problems since the ...

Reputation is everything, according to a new survey by J.D. Power and Associates. The 2012 Avoider Study found that 43 percent of buyers who steer clear of a particular model due to quality concerns do so merely because of common knowledge. Ratings and reviews – our stock in trade – ...

Ford has taken it on the chin from J.D. Power since the carmaker rolled out its new MyFord Touch system in the 2011 Explorer. Ford's ranking in the influential Initial Quality Survey dropped from fifth last year all the way down to 23rd, in large measure because of customer dissatisfaction with ...

While Nissan has never enjoyed the same stellar reputation for quality as its Japanese compatriots at Toyota and Honda, it has lately found itself in danger of acquiring the opposite rep. Nissan's performance on influential J.D. Power quality and dependability studies has been below average ...