Every year, American organization J.D. Power publishes the results of its study that measures the level of dependability of each automotive brand as well as of specific models. This month we got the results for 2019, and the big winner, for the eighth consecutive year, is Lexus.
Lexus again, ahead of Porsche and Toyota
Toyota’s luxury brand thus retains its spot at the top of the dependability chart, finishing ahead of Porsche and Toyota, which tied for second.
The J.D. Power study looks at responses in questionnaires sent to owners of three-year-old vehicles – which means that the 2019 edition looks at the dependability of 2016 model-year vehicles. The score attributed to each brand and to each model, known as the PP100, reflects the number of complaints made by respondents per 100 vehicles.
See our report on the 2018 Dependability Ranking from J.D. Power
Lexus’ PD100 score is 106. Porsche and Toyota both earned PP100 scores of 108, while fourth and fifth-place finishers Chevrolet and Buick came in at 115 and 118, respectively.
At the other extreme of the ranking, the brand with the worst PP100 in 2019 is Fiat, with a 249 score. Just above it sit Land Rover (221) and Volvo (204).
Mass-market brands
J.D. Power noted that this year for the first time ever, mass-market brands outperformed lusury brands for dependability; the global PD100 for the first group was 135, versus 141 for the prestige automakers. The overall global PD100 for all brands in 2019 is 136 (an improvement of 6 over 2018).
The organization also underlined the across-the-board improvement in the performance of the German brands. Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen all saw their scores improve over last year, and all of the German automakers earned PD100 above the global industry average.
The brand that saw the biggest year-to-year improvement for dependability was Chrysler, which earned a PP100 of 146 in 2019, compared with 211 last year. That abysmal result had placed it dead last in the 2018 ranking. Subaru and MINI, which saw their PD100s drop by 31 and 34 points, respectively, can also be happy with what vehicle owners had to say in their questionnaires this year.
Here are the full results for all the brands:
Check out Auto123.com again next week, as we’ll be taking a more in-depth look at the cars as well as the SUVs and trucks that fared best in J.D. Power’s 2019 dependability study!