Korean Brands Dominate J.D. Power 2018 Initial Quality Study

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Based out of the Washington, D.C. area, Joel Patel is an automotive journalist that hails from Northern Virginia. His work has been featured on various automotive outlets, including Autoweek, Digital Trends, and Autoblog. When not writing about cars, Joel enjoys trying new foods, wrenching on his car, and watching horror movies.

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, Automotive Editor - June 21, 2018

J.D. Power named the winners and losers in its 2018 US Initial Quality Study and South Korean automakers led the way. Genesis, Kia, and Hyundai nabbed first, second, and third place in the study, respectively. While the South Korean brands impressed the most with their quality, new-vehicle quality rose four percent from last year and is now at its highest level ever.

Genesis ranked at the top of the list with a score of 68 problems experienced per 100 vehicles (PP100). Kia came in second with a score of 72 PP100, and Hyundai followed with a rating of 74 PP100. Porsche and Ford round out the top five spots with scores of 79 PP100 and 81 PP100, respectively. The average for the industry is 93 PP100. In a similar fashion to golf, lower scores are better.

At the other end of the spectrum, Land Rover came in last place in J.D. Power's Initial Quality Study with a score of 160 PP100. Jaguar scored a little better with 148 problems per 100 vehicles, while Volvo had a rating of 122 PP100. Then came Subaru with a score of 115 PP110, which sat below both Chrysler and Mitsubishi with a rating of 111 PP100.

The car that had the lowest score with the least problems was the Porsche 911 with just 48 problems per 100 vehicles surveyed. J.D. Power didn't reveal what the most problematic car was.

The most troublesome area for new-car buyers continues to be with a vehicle's audio/communication/entertainment/navigation system. While the specific area improved for the third consecutive year, thanks to a decrease in complaints over Bluetooth pairing and voice recognition, it continues to be the area where new owners have the most problems.

High-tech safety features, despite being relatively new technology, didn't get that many complaints from new-car owners. Less than five PP100 were attributed to active safety technology, like lane departure warning, adaptive cruise control, and automatic emergency braking. While complaints remained low for 2018, J.D. Power believes that as the features become more mainstream, complaints for the technology will increase.

To get its findings, J.D. power studied 75,712 responses from purchasers and lessees of 2018 models surveyed after 90 days of ownership. Respondents had to answer a 233-question survey the company conducted between February and May. Because of a limited amount of customers or a small sample size, brands like Alfa Romeo, Tesla, Maserati, Fiat, Bentley, Smart, Ferrari, and Rolls Royce aren't in the results.

A full list of automakers based on their ratings is immediately below:

1. Genesis

2. Kia

3. Hyundai

4. Porsche

5. Ford

6. Chevrolet

7. Lincoln

8. Lexus

8. Ram

10. Nissan

11. BMW