The JD Power 3YIS Survey

The results of JD Power's 3 years-in-service quality survey have been posted. There is some good news here for Detroit: Ford, GM, and Chrysler all have divisions that place above industry average. Ford has Ford brand, Mercury, Lincoln; GM has Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac; Chrysler has Chrysler brand.

Interestingly, the most reliable Ford car at 3YIS is the Lincoln LS/Ford Thunderbird. (The LS and T-Bird appear to be dying off, quietly)

However, there is some definite bad news here, too, on the other side of the industry average line. Ford has Mazda, Volvo, Jaguar, and second to dead last, Land Rover. GM has Saturn, the defunct Oldsmobile, GMC, Pontiac, Subaru, Saab, Daewoo, and Isuzu at worse than average. Chrysler has Dodge, Mercedes, Jeep. Mercedes is actually worse than Chrysler brand and Dodge. In fact, Mercedes is closest to Saab, with 273 and 278 defects/1000 vehicles, respectively.

Why are Ford's premium brands worse than industry average? The Premier Auto Group needs some kind of whoopin'. It is no wonder that Lexus and BMW is eating their lunch. And Mazda--Mazda is supposed to bring Japanese quality to Ford, not the other way around.

GM's domestic premium brands are doing well, but the bread and butter--Saturn and Pontiac, GMC--are not. This will continue to hurt residual values, so GM has to turn these guys around. Like Ford, GM's foreign premium brands are struggling.

Some highlights of the competition:

Hyundai is slightly worse than average, however, its cousin KIA is dead last, with 397 problems/1000 vehicles.

VW/Audi are in the bottom 20%. It is no wonder they are struggling.

surprisingly, MINI is near the bottom as well, not expected from BMW.

Nissan is mediocre.