slo007

By DANNY HAKIM
Published: April 28, 2004 (NY Times)

DETROIT, April 28 — Hyundai, the Korean automaker, surpassed domestic and European manufacturers for the first time in J. D. Power's closely watched initial quality rankings.

The result was a coup for Hyundai, which has been taking on the formidable challenge of recasting its image from cheap to classy, or at least respectable.

"A decade ago, as Korean manufacturers struggled with a universally poor reputation for vehicle quality, no one would have predicted they could not only keep the pace, but actually pass domestics and other imports in terms of initial quality," said Joe Ivers, executive director of quality and customer satisfaction at J. D. Power.

There are caveats, however. Hyundai's Kia brand continues to be a subpar performer in the initial quality rankings, released today. And in J. D. Power's most recent study of long-term reliability, considered a more important quality barometer, the Hyundai brand ranks near the bottom and Kia was the industry's least reliable brand.

"We really want people to see us as a great value automobile," said Chris Hosford, a spokesman for Hyundai. "Part of value is price, part of value is getting a lot of features and equipment for what you spend, and part of it is definitely having a great quality car."

Improvements in initial quality, he said, inevitably lead to longer-term improvements.

"One leads to the other," he said, adding, "we've got to now drive forward and continue these improvements."

So what is initial quality? J. D. Power surveyed 51,000 new car and truck buyers in the United States in February and March, asking them whether they experienced 135 potential problems in the first three months of ownership. The most persistent complaint continued to be wind noise audible inside cars. Fuel economy was again a top 10 complaint, but less so than last year, even though prices were higher than in 2003.

"We had fewer complaints of excessive fuel consumption this year," said Brian Walters, J. D. Power's senior director of vehicle research. "It suggests consumers are adjusting to higher fuel prices."

The survey data is closely watched by the industry, though its importance has somewhat diminished as initial quality gaps between automakers have narrowed dramatically. Gaps remain far more significant in long-term reliability, which affects residual values of automobiles.

But the initial quality report is an important reflection of how well new cars and trucks live up to customer expectations.

Japanese brands scored the best, averaging 111 problems per 100 vehicles. Korean brands averaged 117 problems, European brands 122 and domestic makes 123 problems. In 1998, the gap was much wider, with Korean brands the worst at 272 problems per 100 vehicles and European brands best, at 156.

Of course, sorting out what brand belongs to what region is getting pretty complicated in the global marketplace. For instance, Saab and Jaguar count as European brands even though they are owned by the American automakers General Motors and Ford Motor.

G.M., Ford and DaimlerChrysler continue to rank below the industry average, when measured companywide, but just barely. G.M.'s Hummer brand made marked improvement over last year but continues to be the most problem-prone brand in the industry. Several Detroit brands did come in at the top of the rankings, including G.M.'s Cadillac brand, which was second only to Toyota's Lexus brand.

Toyota's initial quality remains the best in companywide comparisons, though it came with a wrinkle this year. The company's new youth brand, Scion, made its debut near the bottom of the charts.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/28/au...D-AUTO.html?hp

fdl

Interesting for sure.

But I always have to wonder how accurate this sort of thing is. Its possible that people of a certain market would normally report problems that those in another market would not.

For example. Maybe a BMW owner would report a rattle as a problem, whereas a Kia owner would not.

Not saying this is the case, just that I cant help but not put alot of value in these types of "Surveys".

slo007

I agree with you. An Acura owner has high expectations -- they just spent a lot of money (or committed to) -- while the Hyundai owner has much lower expectations -- they probably spent $15K... what's that per month in 5 years?

I think Hyundai gets such high scores because they are able to put features at a much lower cost than other brands. But when they start to fail... who knows.

dabuda

Interesting for sure but,

so it runs good the first three months, after that...who knows what breaks?

slo007

ySL

stop hatin and give korea some props

ortiz

Shoot, I might have to trade in my TSX for a Hyndai Sonata or a Daewoo Lanos.

slo007

Ain't hating anyone. My family had an Excel back in 92-95. It had zero problems. Great little car. But I would not purchase a Hyundai today. More funds in the pocket = higher expectations.

dabuda

respect should be earned, not given...

YBlegal

i think they came long ways.. now they earned it.. lets give it too them

gfxdave99

My friend has a Tiburon and beats the crap out of it and hasnt had any major problems with it, my gifriend had a Kia Serento for a year and never had anything major go wrong with it (she decided she wanted better MPG and got a diesel bug)

However on the other hand the guy who used to work here who had one of the cheaper kia 4 doors had it in the shop like 6 times in 3 months...

So i guess it depends on the model.

Junkster

I think Hyundai has come a long way since they first introduced the Excel. Quality has been greatly improved.

I think I read that the JD Powers survey was problems during the first 90 days of ownership. Long term quality studies show that BMW has less problems as it ages through 7 years (I think this was a IntelliChoice study). Side note: VW problems increase dramatically by the 7th year, even more than the US or Korean makers.

I would give Hyundai their due respect for improvements made during the last few years.

Junkster, who thinks the low price is the big key in Hyundai sales, not quality.

iamhomin

So Korea exceeded their expectations and ended up surpassing us's and even european cars as high "initial" quailty. Good. They're reputation is still significantly lower than the european and japanese models, so until another decade or so passes, hyundai will continue to improve, (since they have too much to improve on) while many doubters diminsh.

ortiz

Ortiz, who reluctantly agrees with Junkster.