The quality of European, Korean, and American-made cars has improved so much in recent years that Japanese manufacturers, who have long been the standard of quality, are having trouble keeping up.
The latest vehicle quality survey by US consultancy JD Power also found that, despite ongoing problems with the car's entertainment and mobile phone connectivity systems, quality is starting to improve overall. For the first time since 2012, buyers reported fewer problems with new cars this year compared to the previous year.
The 2015 survey surveyed more than 84.000 car buyers in February and March and found that Porsche is once again at the top for quality. KIA jumped five places to take second place on the list, with Hyundai fourth. Jaguar, in third place, and Infiniti round out the top five in a survey in which the main question was about problems with new cars in the first 90 days after purchase.
The worst quality of cars is FIAT, Smart, Chrysler, Jeep and Subaru.
Korean brands lead the industry with only 90 problems per 100 vehicles, 11 problems less than last year. European brands are in second place with 113 problems, surpassing Japanese brands for the first time. Taken together, Japanese manufacturers improved the result to 114 problems per 100 vehicles, two less than last year, and the Americans improved quality more than the Japanese, the survey shows.
The industry average is 112 problems per 100 vehicles, four fewer than last year. For the first time in the 29 years the survey has been conducted, Japanese brands fell below the industry average.
Porsche won for the third consecutive year, with 80 problems per 100 vehicles, and Fiat was last among 33 brands, with 161 problems.
The biggest improvement in a year was achieved by Infiniti, which climbed 18 places, to fifth place in the ranking list, with 97 problems, while Dodge fell the most, by 19 places, with 143 problems.
The best corporate performers are General Motors, Hyundai, Nissan and Volkswagen, with four winners each in individual segments of the survey.
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