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

Jaguar displaces Nissan's Infiniti brand, which now moves to 8th just behind Hyundai, albeit the brand's quality rose from 110 PP100 to 104. With its move up the scale Jaguar also finds itself with a better

This year Jaguar finds itself with a better J.D. Power initial quality score than rivals BMW and Mercedes-Benz. (Photo: Shawn Pisio, Canadian Auto Press)

J.D. Power initial quality score than rivals Mercedes-Benz, that vaults up from 15th place last year to take over Jaguar's old 10th placement for 2004 (from 132 to 106 PP100), Audi, which also moves up from its old 14th rating to one place behind Mercedes-Benz at 11th (from 132 to 109 PP100), and BMW, that while dropping from 8th to a still respectable 12th would actually be rated 11th if it wasn't for the fact that it tied at 109 problems per 100 vehicles (from 118 PP100) with Audi that nudges ahead simply due to alphabetical order. BMW also

The top non-premium brand is Honda, shooting up the IQS chart from 11th in 2003 to 4th place in 2004. Acura, however, dropped from 4th place last year to 15th, and from 111 problems per 100 vehicles to 117. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press)

shows an improvement in initial quality since last year.

Despite making changes to up quality Volvo also gets bumped down the chart, but only from 12th to 14th place (from 128 to 113 PP100). Honda's Acura brand loses much more ground falling from 4th in 2003 to 15th (from 111 to 117 PP100), although still above average.

Of the nameplates not previously mentioned, Lincoln at 19th (from 139 to 121 PP100), and Saab at 25th (from 160 to 133 PP100), are the only premium brands rated below average in J.D. Power's 2004 IQS. To their credit, Lincoln moved up one place from 20th position last year, while Saab showed even greater improvement by charging forward 7 increments from its 32nd place 2003 score.