Ford Motor Company is a big winner in the latest JD Power study.
Ford had been making sound decisions about the direction of their company even before the Big Three went to Washington back in the fall of 2008. The automaker’s current CEO, Alan Mulally, was pivotal in the transformation. Mulally focused on the balance sheet and was able to cut costs, put money in the bank and avoid taking government bailout money unlike the other two big American automakers. The move gave Ford the money needed to restructure the company and develop better automobiles.
Ford is now the highest-ranked mass-market automaker in initial quality. It also jumped into the list of top five brands in overall quality for the first time ever, and has 12 models that rank within the top three in their respective IQS segments — more than any other carmaker in the study — including capturing top honors in three segments with the Focus, Mustang and Taurus.
General Motors (often called “Government Motors” these days) also did well, with 10 models that rank within the top three in their segments. Chrysler didn’t fare as well.
This is in sharp contrast to last year’s results, when much of the discussion about automotive quality centered on the difficulties U.S. automakers were facing, and the perceptions that these problems were largely caused by poor product quality.
“I’m happy to see that Domestic automakers have worked diligently to improve the quality of their vehicles, particularly since 2007,” says Tracy Myers, owner of Frank Myers Auto Maxx in Winston-Salem, NC. What is still lagging, however, is the consumer perception of domestic quality. “As much as I know it and other dealers know it, our customers just haven’t realized it yet” Myers says. “The folks that own a domestic car love them, but those that don’t still believe that foreign automakers build better automobiles. I can’t tell you how many times a customer will tell me that they would never buy a used Ford, Chevy or Dodge and they will only buy a Honda, Toyota or Nissan.”
Unlike Ford, Toyota clearly is not having a good year. The once-shining example of quality and reliability fell from the sixth overall position in the manufacturer rankings in 2009 to 21st this year.
“All of the recent recalls had quite an effect on the performance of Toyota,” Myers says. “Not surprisingly, we’ve seen an increase in concern over brakes, pedals and floor mats, all issues related to recalls.”
However, that doesn’t mean Toyota is down for the count. “This is the 24th consecutive year the study has been done, and Toyota was above average for 23 of those years,” Myers says.
– For more information on Tracy Myers or his used car dealership, Frank Myers Auto Maxx, please visit https://www.frankmyersauto.com
