Press Report : Jaguar climbs to top of dependability rankings

John Reed in London, FT.com, 20th May, 2009

The XK has helped by Jaguar to number one
The XK has helped by Jaguar to number one

Tata’s Jaguar tied with General Motors’ Buick brand for the top spot in a closely watched US survey of vehicle dependability, released on Thursday.

Jaguar and Buick nudged Toyota’s Lexus luxury marque out of the top spot it held last year in JD Power and Associates’ 2009 Vehicle Dependability Study.

The ranking is a significant achievement for Jaguar in particular, which was in 10th place last year and in decades past built vehicles with notorious quality problems.

‘Jaguar has moved rapidly up the rankings,” said David Sargent, vice-president of automotive research at the consultancy. Buick climbed to share the top spot with Jaguar from a sixth-place ranking last year.

The study measures problems experienced by owners of three-year-old vehicles and is a key benchmark in the industry, followed by both car buyers and carmakers keen to improve their design and manufacturing.

The ranking is a significant achievement for Jaguar in particular, which was in 10th place last year and in decades past built vehicles with notorious quality problems.

Lexus, Toyota, and Ford Motor’s Mercury brand followed Jaguar and Buick in the top five rankings. The study was based on responses from more than 46,000 owners of 2006 model-year vehicles.

Jaguar sold 6,180 cars worldwide in January and February, 6.9 per cent more than a year ago, largely thanks to sales of its new XF sports sedan model. It sold more than 65,000 cars last year, an 8 per cent rise on 2007.

Both Jaguar and its sister brand Land Rover – the latter formerly at the bottom of JD Power’s league tables on quality – have made significant strides in recent years. As recently as the 1990s, one joke in America had it that Jaguar owners should have two vehicles, one to drive while the other was being repaired.

Despite carmakers suffering their worst downturn in decades, JD Power said they were improving the dependability of their vehicles at an average of 10 per cent a year.

[Source: Financial Times/FT.com]

Clive Goldthorp

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