Hyundai lands in top 3 for quality
Porsche and Hyundai leapfrogged to the top of the influential J.D. Power Initial Quality Study, potentially boosting sales at both automakers as consumers continue to focus on quality as a leading factor in buying decisions. Porsche, known for its sometimes temperamental sports cars, ranked first among brands in the survey, which is based on buyer reaction after 90 days of ownership. Porsche, which ranked 32nd last year, beat out Toyota's luxury brand, Lexus, which held the top spot for several years. Lexus came in just behind Porsche.

"Statistically, it's a dead heat," said Jim Lentz, Toyota group vice president and general manager. "It's important to use this as an indicator to help our efforts to improve. But, quite frankly, if we were No. 1, it wouldn't change things in our effort to get better."

Joe Ivers, executive director of quality and customer satisfaction research for Power, said Porsche's launch of the Cayman sports car was nearly flawless and helped enhance its quality rating. The automaker also made great strides improving its Cayenne SUV, which accounts for a third of its sales.

For Hyundai, the jump from No. 11 to No. 3 could be the boost the company has been looking for. Hyundai says that currently only about 20% of potential buyers say they'll consider a Hyundai. The automaker has said it was focusing on improving quality to get on more buyers' shopping lists.

Hyundai's 10-year, 100,000-mile warranties also are aimed at allaying customers' quality concerns.

"Our goal is to improve and improve and improve," said Don Dees, Hyundai's vice president of service and quality. "We would like to be No. 1, absolutely."

Redesigned survey

The survey, which polled 63,000 new car owners, was redesigned since last year. The new survey is more comprehensive — going from 135 questions to 237 — and allows customers to detail their problems rather than simply rating the issues on a scale. The results are reported in problems per 100 cars.

Although the Toyota brand fell behind Hyundai in overall ratings, Toyota and Lexus continued to dominate rankings of models.

Automakers pay attention to the survey results, often using their scores in advertising. Toyota and Honda, which have consistently scored higher than average, have been slowly gaining market share in the USA, while the domestic automakers have seen sales slip.