While our world slowly descends into a fiery hellscape, at least new vehicle quality is up. There’s a silver lining to everything. The 2018 JD Initial Quality rankings are out and the highest ranked brands are all Korean this time.
JD Power’s initial quality figure is measured by the number of problems experienced over 100 cars during the first 90 days of ownership, explains the company. The lower the score, the higher the quality.
The top three highest-ranking brands are Genesis, Kia and Hyundai. Porsche comes in fourth and Ford is in fifth. The highest ranking models in their respective segments are the Genesis G90, Hyundai Tuscon, Kia Rio, Kia Sorento, Ford Expedition, Ford Mustang, Ford Super Duty, Lincoln Continental and Lincoln MKC.
The rankings also point out that the Porsche 911 “has the lowest overall problem level (48 PP100) of any model this year. This is also the lowest level recorded in this generation of the study (2013-2018).” As if anyone needed another reason to leg-hump the Porsche 911.
Keep in mind, of course, that the JD Power rankings aren’t conducted in a vacuum. In our piece about the company from December, we reported that automakers pay JD Power for access to the company’s market research. Basically, the the relationship between awarder and awardee can be on the chummy side, and it probably shouldn’t be the sole thing that determines your next vehicle purchase.
In any case, you can read up on the rest of the rankings here, then boast about them in your latest TV ad, or whatever anyone else does with a JD Power award.