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Product Quality Ranking of the Automobile Brands of
Europe-Based
and Japan-Based Manufacturers
by James Bleeker
Content Summary
This page provides two charts. The first plots the quality ranks of the
brands of Toyota Motor Corporation, Toyota and
Lexus, those of Honda Motor Company, Honda and Acura, those of Volkswagen AG,
Volkswagen and Audi, and the brands Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Volvo, and Saab. The second plots the quality ranks of the Infiniti,
Nissan, Subaru, Mazda, and Suzuki brands, in addition to all of those of the
first chart.
The statistics used in the computations for ranking the car brands are those found within the April issues of Consumer Reports. The section providing the necessary statistics
is that containing CR's reliability charts. Reliability is defined by the magazine as the infrequency of serious problems, which it measures annually by a subscriber survey.
The charts below provide the ranks of the above car brands based on
the average of the overall reliability ratings of each brand's
models. This ranking provides a measure of how well a brand's
models performed over the entire model-quality spectrum in each of the years 1975, 1980, 1985, 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, and 2010.
Computations: Auto Brand Quality by the Average of Overall Reliability Ratings
To compute car-brand 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 brand's model years
and models offering an overall reliability rating. Lastly, the automobile
brands with at least 5 overall reliability ratings are ordered from
best to worst for each of the years 1975, 1980, 1985, 1990, 2000,
2005, and 2010. The best brand in a given year has a quality rank of
1. The worst quality rank varies from year to year and ranges from 20 to 34.
Automobile brands with a rank in at least one year include Acura, AMC,
Audi, BMW, Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Datsun, Dodge, Eagle, Fiat,
Ford, GMC, Honda, Hyundai, Infiniti, International Harvester, Isuzu, Jaguar,
Jeep, Kia, Lexus, Lincoln, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Mercury, Mini Cooper,
Mitsubishi, Nissan, Oldsmobile, Peugeot, Plymouth, Pontiac, Porsche, Saab,
Saturn, Scion, Subaru, Suzuki, Toyota, Volkswagen, and Volvo.
The quality ranks of the above car lines by this set of
computations are given in the graphs 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 the Quality Ranks of the Auto Brands
Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Volvo, Saab, Audi, and Volkswagen and the Auto Brands of Japan-Based Manufacturers


In the graphs above, the 8-year average of each brand's ranks appears in
parentheses after the brand's name.
Summary and Analysis
Important points from the foregoing graphs are:
1. The Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Volvo, Saab,
Audi, and Volkswagen brands have generally
moved down in rank over time, and in 2010 the ranks of all 6 were
below those of Toyota, Lexus, Acura, Honda, Infiniti, Subaru,
and Mazda. Part of the decline may be attributed to the
increased offerings and presence of East Asian auto
manufacturers.
2. The quality standing of Mercedes-Benz has
taken quite a tumble, from 1st place in 1975 and 1980 to 19th
place in 2010. Nonetheless, 19th place is much better than its
29th place in 2005.
Additional Resources
To view the quality ratings of all of the auto brands for a given year,
click the applicable year.
2010
2005
2000
1995
1990
1985
1980
1975
To view the quality ratings of the 10 best auto brands for a given year,
click the applicable year.
2010
2005
2000
1995
1990
1985
1980
1975
To view the quality ratings of the 10 worst auto brands 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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