Genesis leads J.D. Power’s 2019 Initial Quality Study

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J.D. Power Initial Quality Study

Overall, J.D. Power says that new-vehicle initial quality stayed basically level in 2019 compared to 2018. It’s the first year since 2014 that there was no real improvement noted in the report.

Here’s how J.D. Power describes its Initial Quality Study: ”Initial quality is reported as the number of problems experienced per 100 vehicles (PP100) during the first 90 days of ownership, with a lower score reflecting higher quality.”

“Automakers continue to make progress in areas like infotainment that attract a lot of consumer attention,” Dave Sargent, Vice President of Global Automotive at J.D. Power, said in a statement. “However, some traditional problems crept up this year including paint imperfections, brake and suspension noises, engines not starting and the ‘check engine’ light coming on early in the ownership experience. Also, more people are having issues with their advanced driver assistance systems, which are critical for building consumer trust in future automated vehicles.”

While overall numbers remained flat, individual automaker scores are all over the board. Click through this slideshow to see the top 5, the bottom 5, and finally a chart that includes the performance of all automakers.

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1. Genesis

The top performer overall on this year’s report is Genesis, the luxury arm of Hyundai, with a score of 63 problems experienced per 100 vehicles (PP100).

Korean automakers made a very strong showing in this year’s initial quality report. Click on the image above for the next slide.

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3. Hyundai

Hyundai narrowly falls to third with an overall score of 71 PP100.

Korean automakers are three-for-three so far, and this is the second year in a row that these three brands came out on top.

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5. Lincoln

Lincoln, Ford’s in-house luxury arm, follows its parent company in fifth place with a score of 84 PP100.

There’s the top five, now let’s take a look at the bottom of the pack.