Lexus named J.D. Power's most dependable brand

Lexus has taken out J.D. Power’s dependability study, incredibly for the seventh time.

The Japanese car maker narrowly edged out Porsche in the latest rankings, which are based on a survey of original American owners of MY15 vehicles.

The dependability study undertaken by J.D. Power ranks manufacturers based on Problems Per 100 Cars (PP100). A lower score reflects higher quality, the study profiling 177 different issues bundled into eight major categories.

This year’s major bugbears centred more on infotainment systems, specifically Bluetooth and voice recognition, than mechanical woes, JD Power stakeholders said.

Overall, the industry average dropped from 156 to 142, the first time rankings have improved since 2013.

At the top of the polls was Lexus, with an incredible 99; Porsche finished second with 100 and Buick third with 116.

Infiniti (120) and Kia (122) followed suit, along with Chevrolet and Hyundai (124). Lexus’ parent body Toyota finished on 127.

Next in the line was the German triumvirate of BMW (127), Audi (141) and Mercedes-Benz (147).

At the other end of the scale was Jeep (188) and Fiat (192), followed by Land Rover (204). As for the unwelcome title of last place in JD’s dependability study? That would be Chrysler, with a score of 211.

Audio/Communications/ Entertainment/Navigation (ACEN) was clearly a troublesome category for vehicle owners. It received the highest frequency of complaints, most relating to built-in voice recognition (9.3 PP100) and built-in Bluetooth connectivity (7.7 PP100).

“For the most part, automotive manufacturers continue to meet consumers’ vehicle dependability expectations,” said Dave Sargent, J.D. Power’s vice president of global automotive.

“A 9 per cent improvement is extremely impressive, and vehicle dependability is, without question, at its best level ever.”

The result is welcome news over at Lexus, which recently took out the J.D. Power Australia Customer Service Index study.