Consumer Reports - "Ford Secures Place Among World's Most Reliable Carmakers"

@FordOnline DEARBORN -- Already producing world-class initial quality, Ford now is the only U.S. domestic automaker with world-class reliability, according to Consumer Reports, which released details Tuesday of its 2009 Annual Car Reliability Survey.
The magazine's news release heralded the company’s quality improvement, stating in the headline that "Ford Secures Place Among World's Most Reliable Carmakers."
According to the Consumer Reports release, "Ford's sustained production of vehicles that are as dependable – or better than – some of the industry's best dispels the notion that only Japanese manufacturers make reliable cars. Other than the Toyota Prius, the reliability of the 4-cylinder Fusion and Milan ranks higher than that of any other family sedan. Both of those Ford Motor Company products continue to beat the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry, while the upscale Lincoln MKZ tops its rivals, the Acura TL and Lexus ES."
David Champion, senior director of Consumer Reports' Automotive Test Center, had additional praise for Ford's trio of mid-size sedans.
"It's rare for Consumer Reports to see family sedans from domestic carmakers continue to beat the reliability scores of such highly regarded Japanese models as the Camry and Accord," said Champion in the news release.
Overall, about 90 percent of Ford, Lincoln and Mercury products were rated average or better reliability in the Consumer Reports survey.
"The Ford team has a commitment to be world class in quality, and we’ve made consistent strides over the last five years," said Bennie Fowler, group vice president, Ford Global Quality. "Today is a great day for us and for our customers, to have such a highly regarded third party – Consumer Reports -- recognize us for what we already know."
The Ford Mustang V-6 was among the most reliable vehicles in the "Sporty Cars/Coupes and Convertibles" category. The new Ford Flex also performed well in the study.
Consumer Reports says its 2009 reliability survey is based on responses on more than 1.4 million vehicles owned or leased by subscribers to the magazine or its Web site. The survey was conducted in the spring of 2009 and covers model years 2000 to 2009.
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TheCarConnection.Com Honda, Toyota, Acura and Lexus all have deservedly solid reputations for reliability and quality. But according to Consumer Reports' latest Reliability Survey, the brands at the head of the class are Ford and Lincoln--at least when it comes to the core volume models.
The survey, which took responses from 1.4 million vehicle owners or lessors, found the Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan to beat out all family sedans for reliability, including the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry. The Lincoln MKZ likewise trumped the Acura TL and Lexus ES.
It's not just the Fusion/Milan and MKZ that are at the top of the list, though--roughly 90% of Ford's vehicles come out average or better for reliability according to the study. Some vehicles, like the all-wheel drive versions of the Lincoln MKS, MKX and MKZ, scored below average, however.
The title for least reliable vehicle goes to Volkswagen this year, for the Touareg, which is 27 times more likely to have a problem than the Honda Insight, which topped the charts for reliability. Toyota and Honda still come out well on the overall results--Asian carmakers in general do, in fact, taking 36 of the 48 top spots, with Toyota leading at 18, Honda with eight, Nissan at four, and Hyundai/Kia and Subaru with three top spots each.
There are a number of trends in the results too, with small cars in particular scoring well--fully 20 of the 37 small cars surveyed were above-average in predicted reliability. Some of the front-runners include the Scion xD and Volkswagen Golf.
Nationally, Ford was the heavy-hitter for the U.S., though GM came through with its newer models. Twenty of the 48 cars in the survey meet average or better reliability marks. Chrysler, on the other hand, has over a third of its products at "much worse than average." Japan is strong as usual with Honda and Toyota leading the way, while Korean brands Hyundai and Kia proved their consistent improvement is still paying dividends, with only two models--the Kia Sedona and Sorento--scoring below average.
Despite Volkswagen's horrific Touareg results, European carmakers on the whole are doing well, with Mercedes-Benz the strongest. BMW's results are "mixed" and VW and Audi are best characterized as on the comeback trail, though VW's Golf and CC rank highly. Porsche's only low spot is the Boxster, which is now below average, while the Cayenne--which shares much of its platform with the disastrous Touareg--rises to average.
Consumer Reports' metric for the reliability judgment is based on a statistical analysis of the number of problems likely to occur with any given model currently on sale. That model is formed from the reports of the 1.4 million subscribers' responses.
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Reuters DETROIT, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co (F.N) has made the most progress in improving vehicle quality among major automakers, while Chrysler ranks at the bottom of the industry for reliability, according to an annual Consumer Reports survey released on Tuesday.
Asian automakers dominated the magazine's influential list of recommended vehicles, with Toyota Motor Corp's (7203.T) Scion ranked the top brand followed by Honda Motor Co's (7267.T) flagship brand. Toyota's flagship brand placed third.
Ford ranks as the only U.S. automaker that is competing with Asian brands with "world-class reliability," Consumer Reports said.
About 90 percent of Ford's vehicles achieved average or better reliability, the study showed. Ford's Mercury brand ranked tenth for reliability -- the only U.S. brand to make the top 10 list. The Ford brand ranked 16th and Ford's luxury Lincoln brand ranked 20th.
"Ford definitely has closed the gap," said Rik Paul of Consumer Reports. "We started seeing that a couple of years ago. We didn't know at that time if it was a fluke or if it was something they were going to be able to maintain. Last year, they were still there and this year, they are still there."
In contrast, Chrysler's three brands all slipped further in the ratings. The Jeep SUV brand ranked 30th, with Dodge just behind and the Chrysler brand dead last in the ranking.
Consumer Reports said more than a third of Chrysler models through the 2009 model year were "much worse than average." Chrysler emerged from bankruptcy on June 10 by completing the sale of most of its assets to a new company led by Italy's Fiat SpA (FIA.MI). Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne, who also heads Fiat, will announce a five-year business plan for turning around the No. 3 U.S. automaker on Nov. 4.
Steve Rattner, the former investment banker who headed the Obama administration's restructuring of GM and Chrysler, said last week that officials were divided about whether Chrysler could be saved, in part because Consumer Reports did not recommend any of its vehicles.
For the new report, the magazine endorsed one Chrysler vehicle, the four-wheel-drive version of the Dodge Ram 1500 pickup truck.
"It did well in (our) road tests and rates average in reliability," the magazine said. Many analysts say Chrysler desperately needs new vehicles to steer its faltering operations toward recovery. Chrysler's U.S. sales plunged 42 percent in September from a year ago.
Marchionne said recently he was surprised at the lack of product development done by Chrysler's previous owners, Cerberus Capital Management [CBS.UL] and Daimler AG (DAIGn.DE), in the two years before his arrival in June.
"Chrysler, well, they're not bringing out a lot of product. You have to bring out product to improve," Paul said. Chrysler was not immediately available for comment. NEW GM MODELS ENCOURAGING General Motors Co's [GM.UL] flagship Chevrolet brand, which accounts for more than 60 percent of its U.S. sales, ranked 25th on the list.
The No. 1 U.S. automaker emerged from bankruptcy in July backed by some $50 billion in U.S. taxpayer funding. GM is counting on sales gains at Chevy at a time when it is selling Saab, Hummer and winding down Pontiac and Saturn.
The magazine said that 20 of GM's 48 models have average reliability scores. The automaker has a number of "strong contenders" just released or in the pipeline, but it was too early to have reliability data on them.
"We have seen some of their newer models doing better so we do think perhaps they are on the right track," Paul said. Hyundai Motor Co (005380.KS), the only major automaker to increase sales in a slumping U.S. market this year, ranked eighth, unchanged from last year.
Besides its influence with car shoppers, the annual report is used by major automakers as a proxy for their performance in improving and maintaining vehicle quality.
Consumer Reports is published by the nonprofit Consumers Union and does not accept advertising. The publication's "predicted reliability" study for new model vehicles is based on an average of consumer ratings of the same model in the recent years.
This year's report on auto reliability was based on consumer feedback on more than 1.4 million vehicles, Consumer Reports said. The reliability results will be published in the magazine's December issue, which goes on sale next week.
(Reporting by Soyoung Kim and Bernie Woodall, additional reporting by David Bailey; editing by Matthew Lewis and Andre Grenon)