DETROIT – It's perhaps the most anticipated and respected automotive surveys of the year.
The J.D. Power Initial Quality Survey tells the automakers where they stand when it comes to customer satisfaction with the fit, finish and overall performance of their new cars and trucks. They collected more than 70,000 post cards telling all kinds of things about the new crop. It's a long laundry list of vehicles taking the best in class trophies.
General Motors had its best year ever in the 26 years the survey's been around. It placed four vehicles in the best of category. Ford placed three. Chrysler didn't place any but the Jeep Grand Cherokee and the Chrysler 300 had impressive showings and it's the best showing for Chrysler in at least five years. We have linked here to the J.D. Power survey results.
Read: J.D. Power and Associates releases annual quality study, Detroit's Big 3 left out of top spots
In case you didn't want to read it all here are some highlights. J.D. Power says the best car on the road period is the Porsche 911 Carerra. Second on the list is the Lexus ES 350 and third, with an impressive showing, is the Cadillac Escalade!
The best large car on the road is the Ford Taurus. J.D. Power says this is great news for you as a customer because the better the quality initially the longer the car will last and the better the resale value at the other end. And considering this year's industry performance is five percentage points better than last year and the best performance ever; there may never be a better time to buy a new car if you're in the market.
The biggest industry problem has been and continues to be the difficulty of making automobiles properly "sync" with their electronics, particularly with the cell phone. Glitches in that relationship are recorded as auto problems and have caused Ford in particular to suffer in their quality ratings. Most interesting about these findings was the fact it was young new car buyers complaining most bitterly. You might expect older drivers who have difficulty making computers work behind the problem. They aren't. Younger drivers apparently expect more and better. Every car maker is working on the problem but it appears we are a few years away from its solution.
This is a good day for the domestic three. More than that, this is important stuff and it is greatly encouraging the Domestic three are genuinely competing in the toughest era ever in the auto business.