JD Power upset

J.D. Power and Associates have published the Vehicle Dependability Study for 2009, reports US specialist website, Autoremarketing.com. Every year, the renowned market statistician conducts a survey of new-car buyers over a three-year period of ownership. For this year's survey, owners of 2006 model vehicles were asked to respond.

And respond they did! Catching industry pundits by surprise, the respondents placed also-ran car-makers Jaguar and Buick ahead of long-standing favourite, Lexus, for dependability. Lexus had, up until now, taken the top spot in the survey every year the company had participated.

To be outdone by Jaguar too, will undoubtedly have the lads at Lexus dismayed, since the British prestige brand -- recently sold by Ford to Tata (more here)-- has been synonymous with mediocre build quality in the past. All the same, the result of this year's survey is more a positive reflection on Jaguar than an indictment of Lexus.

Just four points separate Buick and Jaguar (both on 122) from Lexus (126), but the truly remarkable point in all this is that Jaguar leapt, cat-like, from 10th position last year to equal first place with Buick this year. Buick, a subsidiary of GM and largely lacking the presence for which it was known in the past, has also excelled itself this year, moving up to first place from 6th last year.

"Ranking top in the United States' leading survey on vehicle dependability is recognition that Jaguar not only makes the most desirable cars, but now, the most dependable too," explained Mike O'Driscoll, Jaguar's managing director.

David Sargent, vice president of automotive research at J.D. Power, observed as a side issue that American new-car buyers are keeping their purchases longer before trading the cars in on a new acquisition.

"The average age of a vehicle at trade-in has increased to 73 months in 2009 from 65 months in 2006," Sargent explained, placing the blame on the economic crisis.

"This makes vehicle dependability even more critical. Automakers have improved long-term dependability by an average of 10 percent each year since the inception of the study, which is a testament to the industry's commitment to continuously improve and sustain quality, especially long-term quality," he said.

J.D. Power and Associates' Vehicle Dependability Survey canvasses the experience of owners of three-year old cars, based on 202 different criteria and the total is averaged out per 100 units of each vehicle type assessed. The higher the figure, the worse the dependability quotient.

According to the market researcher, only 11 per cent of buyers will purchase from the same company a second time if a vehicle manufactured by that company has required replacement or rebuilding of engine components. By comparison, as many as 40 per cent of vehicle owners will purchase a replacement car from the same company if they don't have to replace engine parts.

Interestingly, Toyota (4th) and Honda (10th) were the only brands appearing in the top ten results of the survey without a prestige reputation. The others were: Mercury (134 points, 5th), Infiniti (142 points, 6th), Acura (146 points, 7th), Lincoln (147 points, 8th) and Cadillac (148 points, 9th).

All those companies finished ahead of the industry average, 170 points, according to the research company.