Subaru of America, Inc. took 7th spot away from Ford Motor Company after rising from a lowly 12th out of a 14 corporation total. To manage this, the Japanese automaker's PP100 improved by 10 points from 146 to 123, while Ford, which was achieving 136 PP100 in 2003 only improved to 127, an 8th place finish. Still, the domestic automaker improved, which is positive progress. The competition just happens to be improving at a greater rate.
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| Mitsubishi Motors North America, Inc. must be pleased, moving from second last in 2003 all the way up to 9th place this year. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press) |
Speaking of improving, Mitsubishi Motors North America, Inc. skyrocketed from next to last (13th) in 2003 all the way up to 9th place in the 2004 IQS. The performance-oriented Japanese brand upped its initial quality from 148 PP100 to 130, bypassing American Suzuki Corporation and Volkswagen of America, Inc. in the process, while surpassing wayward Nissan North America and Porsche as well.
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| Nissan North America finds itself plunging from a very respectable 6th place in 2003, to a miserable 11th position this year. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press) |
Volkswagen, a name once synonymous with reliability, places well below the industry average in this year's IQS. Its 10th position on the grid is identical to last year, as is its 141 PP100 score. How it arrives at this identical ranking and PP100 score is a bit of a miracle, however, as the Volkswagen brand dropped in initial quality while the upscale Audi nameplate moved up the charts. While it's one of few automakers to show no numerical improvement, at least the German manufacturer isn't sliding backwards.
Speaking of the great ones falling, Japan's number two automaker (at least in its domestic market and on a global scale), Nissan North America finds itself plunging from a very respectable 6th place with 135 PP100, to a miserable 11th position with 147 PP100. To be fair to Nissan, both the brand that wears the corporate badge and its premium Infiniti division have been on an unprecedented product offensive, for the automaker itself as well as any competitors. With a lineup of almost completely new vehicles, and quality problems usually worse in the first year of a given vehicle's lifespan than in the last, expect the Japanese automaker's IQS fortunes to rebound dramatically in coming years.