By James Barrie I t does not happen often, in fact its been 27 years since the J.D. Power’s annual report had a non- premium brand at the top of it list. The buzz in the industry is that in the recent J.D. Power annual report, Kia overtook Porsche to lead the industry Initial Car Quality. Kia only finished 1 point ahead of Porsche, but as they say, a win is a win.
The J.D. Power’s annual report card spotlights initial vehicle quality and is based on the numbers of issue reported by customers per 100 cars sold.
Kia finished first with a rating of 83. That being 83 problems reported per 100 vehicles and happily joins Toyota as the only nonpremium brand to have finished first in the 30-year history of the Initial Quality Study. J.D. Power and Associates said when releasing the results to the Automotive Press Associa- tion that it was the first time since Toyota came in at top spot back in 1989. This was the second consecutive year that the nonpremium brands were led by Kia. The South Korean marquee finished second overall in 2015, with a score of 86. This year’s first-place finish marks the culmination of a steady ascent from 18th in 2012.
Only 4 of the top 10 would be consid- ered a premium brand.
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JULY 2016 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS
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