Industry Report Part 1: New J.D. Power Initial Quality Survey Puts Hyundai Above Toyota

Lexus is Still Number One Overall with Honda the Top Entry Nameplate

Which automaker nameplates are the winners and losers in J.D. Powers and Associates 2004 Initial Quality Survey (IQS)? In what might be the biggest shakeup since the

The big winner in this year's J.D. Powers and Associates 2004 Initial Quality Survey is Hyundai. (Photo: Hyundai Auto Canada)

Japanese took away quality bragging rights from the Germans, this year's biggest winner is Hyundai. This will come as good news to backers of the price-competitive brand as it is just readying a product offensive that will see it launch eleven new vehicles before the end of 2007.

The South Korean firm outpaced Toyota on its way up the IQS charts, moving from its below average rating of 23rd place out of 37 nameplates, to a much more respectable 7th, and as significant, improving its problems per 100 vehicles (PP100) rating from 143 to 102.

"The fact that Hyundai is now outperforming even perennial quality leaders like Toyota--and in a relatively short amount of time--is nothing short of remarkable considering the vast quality gap it faced just a few years ago," said Ivers. "This kind of improvement

While edged out by Hyundai, Toyota remains at a respectable 9th place. (Photo: Toyota Canada)

simply cannot be achieved without a serious commitment to quality over the long haul. The question now is whether Hyundai can demonstrate this same level of improvement in terms of new-vehicle launch and long-term vehicle quality."

It's important to note that Toyota hasn't dropped from its 9th place rating, maintaining the impressive position from the 2003 to 2004 IQS and improving its PP100 rating from 121 to 104 in the process, but rather Hyundai displaces Porsche that takes the biggest dive of any automaker, from first place among all European automakers at 7th, to 3rd to last just ahead of Volkswagen (from 117 to 159 PP100).