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Product Quality Rankings of Five
Europe-Based and Five Japan-Based Auto Manufacturers
by James Bleeker
Content Summary
This page provides two charts that plot the quality ranks of 5 Europe-based
and 5 Japan-based automobile manufacturers - Daimler, Volvo, BMW AG, Volkswagen AG, Saab,
Toyota Motor Corporation, Honda Motor Company, Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd.,
and Mazda Motor Corporation. Each chart employs a different method
for computing the quality rank of the manufacturers.
The statistics used in the computations for ranking the car makers are those found within the April issues of Consumer Reports. The two sections providing the necessary statistics are CR's Used-Cars-To-Avoid lists and its reliability charts. Reliability is defined by the magazine as the infrequency of serious problems, which it measures annually by a subscriber survey.
The first graph provides the ranks of the above 10 car makers based on each manufacturer's infrequency of trouble-prone models. These ranks provide a measure of how well each manufacturer's models successfully avoided the bottom end of the model-quality spectrum
for the years 1980, 1985, 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, and 2010.
The second graph provides the ranks of the above 10 car makers based on
the average of the overall reliability ratings of each manufacturer's
models. The second ranking provides a measure of how well a manufacturer's
models performed over the entire model-quality spectrum in each of the years 1975, 1980, 1985, 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, and 2010.
Auto Manufacturer Quality by Infrequency of Trouble-Prone Models
To form a car-manufacturer quality measure from each of the annual lists of Used Cars To Avoid, the first step is to count each manufacturer's entries on the list. Each model year of each model is treated as a separate entry.
Next, as the number of automobile models sold by a car manufacturer varies greatly from maker to maker, it is necessary to take account of the fact that a manufacturer with more models has a greater opportunity to have more model years of low quality. To compensate for a possibly inflated, or deflated, frequency of trouble-prone model years of a manufacturer, as well as a variability in model data sufficiency, the number of a manufacturer's entries in
a Used-Cars-To-Avoid list is divided by the total number of overall
reliability ratings for the manufacturer found in the reliability charts of
the same issue of Consumer Reports.
Finally, the automobile manufacturers with at least 5 overall reliability
ratings are ordered from best to worst for each of the years 1980, 1985,
1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, and 2010. The best manufacturer in a given year has
a quality rank of 1. The worst quality rank varies from year to year and
ranges from 13 to 19.
Automobile manufacturers with a rank in at least one year include
American Motors Corporation, BMW AG, the Chrysler Group (previously Chrysler
Corporation, the Chrysler Group of DaimlerChrysler AG, and Chrysler LLC, and
presently Chrysler Group LLC), Ford Motor Company, Fiat S.p.A., General
Motors Corporation, Honda Motor Company, Isuzu Motors Ltd., Jaguar, Kia Motors Corporation, Mazda Motor Corporation,
Daimler AG (previously Daimler-Benz AG and the Mercedes-Benz division of
DaimlerChrysler AG), Mitsubishi Motors Corporation, Nissan Motor Company,
PSA Peugeot Citroën, Porsche AG, Saab, Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., Suzuki
Motor Corporation, Toyota Motor Corporation, Volkswagen AG, and Volvo.
For several of the above years, Saab was a division of General Motors Corporation and Volvo and Jaguar were divisions
of Ford Motor Company; however, for all of the above years, they have been treated as separate companies.
The quality ranks of the above 10 automobile manufacturers by these
computations are given for each of the above years in the first graph below.
Auto Manufacturer Quality by the Average of Overall Reliability Ratings
To compute car-maker quality ratings and compute a quality rank using
Consumer Reports' overall reliability ratings, a number is first associated with
each of CR's overall ratings. A +1.0 is ascribed to a rating of Much Better Than Average, a
+0.5 to a rating of Better Than Average, a 0 to a rating of Average, a -0.5
to a rating of Worse Than Average, and a -1.0 to a rating of Much Worse Than
Average. Then an average is taken over all of the manufacturer's model years
and models offering an overall reliability rating. Lastly, the automobile
manufacturers with at least 5 overall reliability ratings are ordered from
best to worst for each of the years 1975, 1980, 1985, 1990, 1995, 2000,
2005, and 2010. The best manufacturer in a given year has a quality rank of
1. The worst quality rank varies from year to year and ranges from 13 to 19.
Automobile manufacturers with a rank in at least one year include
American Motors Corporation, BMW AG, the Chrysler Group (previously Chrysler
Corporation, the Chrysler Group of DaimlerChrysler AG, and Chrysler LLC, and
presently Chrysler Group LLC), Ford Motor Company, Fiat S.p.A., General
Motors Corporation, Honda Motor Company, International Harvester Company,
Isuzu Motors Ltd., Jaguar, Kia Motors Corporation, Mazda Motor Corporation,
Daimler AG (previously Daimler-Benz AG and the Mercedes-Benz division of
DaimlerChrysler AG), Mitsubishi Motors Corporation, Nissan Motor Company,
PSA Peugeot Citroën, Porsche AG, Saab, Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., Suzuki
Motor Corporation, Toyota Motor Corporation, Volkswagen AG, and Volvo.
For several of the above years, Saab was a division of General Motors Corporation and Volvo and Jaguar were divisions
of Ford Motor Company; however, for all of the above years, they have been treated as separate companies.
The quality ranks of the above 10 car manufacturers by this set of
computations are given in the second graph below.
As overall reliability ratings were not offered by Consumer Reports in 1995, Auto Reliability Percentrank averages were used for ranking the automobile manufacturers.
The Graphs of Auto Manufacturer Quality Ranks
Summary and Analysis
Two important points from the foregoing graphs are:
1. By the quality ranking based on the
infrequency of trouble-prone models, the 5 European auto
manufacturers intermingled with the 5 Japanese auto
manufacturers in 1980 and 1985, although on average the Europen
car makers fell below the Japanese car makers even in these
earlier years. However, by 2005 and 2010, there was a complete
separation, with the quality of all of the Europe-based
manufacturers falling below that of the Japan-based
manufacturers.
2. By overall reliability, a rather similar
separation occurred, as most of the Europe-based manufacturers
fell by this quality rating as well. An exception to the
general European decline is Volvo, which has moved rather
helter-skelter about the quality spectrum, but never placing
particularly highly.
Additional Resources
To view the quality ratings of all of the auto manufacturers for a given year,
click the applicable year.
2010
2005
2000
1995
1990
1985
1980
1975
For a Google Knol that summarizes the changes in auto-brand and auto-manufacturer ranking by these quality measures from 1990 to 2010, click
Go.
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