New Car Quality; Big 3 Go up!

Hyundai is up, Nissan is down, and domestic brands such as Cadillac, Buick and Mercury are gaining rapidly on industry leader Lexus.

That’s the scorecard from the J.D. Power and Associates 2004 Initial Quality Study, which reinforces the industry’s claims that quality is steadily improving in new cars and light trucks.

While Japanese stalwarts Toyota Motor Co.p. and Honda Motor Co. still lead the pack in terms of overall corporate quality, the gap separating them from Detroit’s Big Three is getting smaller.

“More automakers are bunched up near the top,” said Gary Cowger, president of General Motors Corp.’s North American operations. “The competition is fierce.”

The most surprising gains were made at Hyundai, which posted a 29 percent improvement over the previous year.

Owners of Hyundai models reported 102 problems per 100 cars in the first 90 days of ownership, equaling Honda’s score and just behind Toyota, with 101 problems per 100 vehicles.

“Quality is the total focus of our chairman (Mong Koo Chung), and it permeates all through the entire Hyundai organization,” said Robert Cosmai, president of Hyundai’s U.S. unit.

GM, Ford Motor Co. and DaimlerChrysler AG trailed the industry average of 119 problems per 100 vehicles.

But all three posted solid gains with 2004 models. GM improved 10 percent to 120 problems per 100 vehicles, DaimlerChrysler was up 12 percent to 123 problems, and Ford reported a 7 percent improvement to 127 problems.

The improvements came amid a blitz of new product launches that often can torpedo overall corporate quality levels.

“To have gone through the major launches we have and come out with statistically significant improvement actually beats the odds in the industry,” said Louis Goeser, Ford’s vice president of quality.

Several domestic brands stood out in the survey. At GM, Cadillac posted a 16 percent improvement to 93 problems per 100 vehicles, trailing only Toyota’s Lexus luxury brand.

GM’s Buick and Ford’s Mercury divisions also improved markedly, as did the German luxury nameplates Mercedes-Benz and BMW.

Among individual models, Toyota and Lexus captured the top spot in seven of 18 categories, including the segment-leading Toyota Tundra full-size pickup.

Honda and its Acura division took top honors in three categories, and GM, Ford and DaimlerChrysler’s Chrysler unit each placed first in two segments.

Still the gains made by Hyundai, once the industry laggard in quality, were the most dramatic.


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