Ford beats Toyota in quality rankings

“We’re not used to seeing their vehicles go backward from a quality standpoint, and several of them did,” he said. “It’s no big change, but when things go backward for Toyota, it’s unusual.”

Toyota spokesman Mike Michels said the company was pleased with its results, adding that Toyota was the second-ranked non-luxury brand and stayed in the top 10 overall. Lexus also maintained its second-place ranking overall.

Michels said the LS460, which for the first time was not the top-ranked in its segment, came in a close second to the Audi A8 and Mercedes Benz S-Class, which tied for first. Still, the company also was pleased with that showing, since it was a redesigned model and had just been shipped to dealers before the survey-taking began.

Michels said small shifts such as these make a huge difference as the quality gap has narrowed among automakers.

“In our view, if you really look at this, we’re starting to see differences that are not statistically significant,” he said.

“The (Initial Quality Survey) is not the whole picture when it comes to customers’ perceptions and the information they have on quality. We think that long-term quality and durability are what people base their buying decisions on.”

In the J.D. Power survey, Hyundai fell from third overall to 12th. Oddes said relaunched vehicles such as the Santa Fe did not do as well as the automaker had hoped. On the plus side, the redesigned Elantra performed well in its segment.

Lincoln was followed by Honda, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar and Toyota. Honda, with the fewest problems per 100 vehicles among non-luxury brands, improved in the ranking to fourth from sixth in 2006.

The most improved nameplates in the study are Land Rover, Saab and Mercedes-Benz.

Ivers said Mercedes-Benz’s improvements have been significant and speedy across its product line. It grabbed the top spot in three segments, and notable was its S-Class going from “worst to first” as it launched a redesigned model.

“A lot of people avoid buying a vehicle in its first year of production, but Mercedes, with its S-Class, got everything right,” he said.

J.D. Power also gave the Platinum Plant Quality Award for producing vehicles yielding the fewest defects to Ford’s Wixom Assembly Plant, which stopped making cars May 31. The Detroit-area plant produced the Lincoln Town Car, which averages 35 problems per 100 vehicles.

It was the first North American assembly plant to receive the honor since 1999.

For the study, Westlake Village, Calif.-based J.D. Power collected responses from more than 97,000 buyers and lessees of new 2007 model year vehicles after 90 days of ownership.

This year’s survey included 228 questions and asked for information specifically about design and production, such as defects and malfunctions.

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