Toyota tops Power Quality Study

The latest of the annual Initial Quality Study by J. D. Power & Associates in the US suggests vehicle quality is continuing to improve and that Toyota is still the brand to catch but that some European and domestic brands are getting better.

Lexus, Porsche and Cadillac performed the best in the study.

Compared to 2008, the study, which grades carmakers on the number of problems per 100 vehicles, found that the industry average for all vehicles was 108 problems per 100 vehicles, down from 118 in 2008. That's an overall improvement of about 8 per cent.

There was more good news. Early adopters will be pleased to hear that the Power study also found that the initial quality for newly introduced and redesigned models, which historically have had more problems than the industry average, improved in 2009.

All-new and redesigned vehicles produced an the average was 114 problems per 100 vehicles, down from 128 in 2008.

The Toyota Motor Corporation ranked the highest in 10 of 18 categories, the most of any brand. Battling Ford topped four categories, while GM, Honda and Nissan topped two categories.