Tata brand Jaguar tops JD Power vehicle dependability study

20 March 2009

The Tatas have something to smile about. Its luxury brand Jaguar surged to the top of JD Power and Associates' closely watched vehicle dependability study this year, tying Buick for the No.1 spot and dethroning Lexus for the first time since the Japanese luxury brand became a part of the survey.

Lexus, Toyota Motor Corp.'s luxury brand, took the next spot in the study released Thursday, followed by Toyota's namesake brand, then Mercury, Infiniti and Acura.

"Buick and Jaguar both lead the industry in nameplate performance," said Neal Oddes, director of product research and analysis at JD Power. "In terms of individual model performance, Lexus and Toyota still do very, very well."

"Buick has ranked among the top 10 nameplates each year since the study was last redesigned in 2003, while Jaguar has moved rapidly up the rankings," said David Sargent, vice president of automotive research at JD Power. "Lexus remains a very strong competitor in long-term quality. In particular, the Lexus LS 430 sets the industry standard for dependability, with fewer problems reported than any other model in the study."

The annual study measures problems experienced by the original owners of vehicles after three years. Ina a disappointment for Maruti owners, Suzuki owners reported the most problems among the 37 brands assessed by JD Power.

Toyota garners five segment awards – more than any other nameplate in 2009 – for the Highlander, Prius, Sequoia, Solara and Tundra. Lexus follows with four segment awards for the ES 330 (in a tie with the Acura RL), GX 470, LS 430 and SC 430. Lincoln captures two awards for the Mark LT and Zephyr. Models by Acura, Buick, Dodge, Ford, Honda, Mazda, Mercury, Nissan and Scion each rank highest in one segment.