Kia Tops Luxury Brands in Latest J.D. Power Quality Study; Fiat, Smart Trail

CARS.COM — For the first time in a decade, non-luxury brands topped their luxury counterparts in owner-reported problems in J.D. Power’s 2016 Initial Quality Study. And Kia, a brand whose average transaction prices rank among the industry’s lowest, topped Porsche, Lexus and other luxury marques to lead the influential study. It’s the first time in 27 years that a non-luxury brand came out on top.

Related: J.D. Power Vehicle Dependability Study Puts Lexus First, Again

“The industry is struggling to some degree with technology in vehicles, particularly the audio, entertainment [and] navigation systems, and premium vehicles are more likely to have these more-sophisticated systems,” said Dave Sargent, vice president of global automotive at J.D. Power.

What’s more, Sargent added: Non-luxury brands “have done a very good job of improving quality, and this is across most companies.”

Take Kia, whose defect rate amounted to 83 problems per 100 vehicles, or PP100 in IQS parlance. That led the industry’s average of 105 PP100 across 33 brands — an improvement of 6 percent versus 2015 and the largest single-year improvement since 2009, according to the company. Sargent noted “some really good, just fundamental quality improvements going on” among both luxury and non-luxury brands.

The company found Detroit Three brands collectively had fewer owner-reported problems than foreign-based automakers, something that hasn’t happened since 2010. Of note: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, a longtime problem child in both the IQS and J.D. Power’s longer-term Vehicle Dependability Study, improved notably this year. FCA’s namesake Fiat brand came in second from bottom, but its Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram brands came closer to average (though still below it). Chrysler and Jeep were the 2016 study’s most-improved brands, J.D. Power said.

Smart (216 PP100), Fiat (174), Volvo (152) and Land Rover (132) trailed in the 2016 study. Smart suffered what Sargent calls “the launch effect,” where new or redesigned cars tend to have more warts off the bat. Brands with fewer cars tend to have more volatile scores, particularly when those cars are redesigned. So it went with Smart: The brand redesigned its only car, the ForTwo, to replace the first-generation ForTwo — a microcar that scored poorly even in its final years. The redesign fared even worse in the IQS, landing Smart a last-place rank.

The IQS surveyed more than 80,000 consumers who bought new 2016 model-year cars and rated problems and dislikes in the first 90 days of ownership. Critics of the study note that it combines objective malfunctions with subjective dislikes, which J.D. Power calls “design” issues. The company defends its approach, noting that owners are just as miffed — or in some cases, even more so — with attributes that are poorly designed even if they work as advertised.

“A lot of the defects and malfunctions are fairly readily fixable by the dealer,” Sargent said. “If you have a lousy audio system that’s impossible to operate, you’re kind of stuck with that … [and] that becomes far more aggravating. Probably if you talk to your friends and say, ‘Hey, how’s your new car? What do you like about it?’ Nine times out of 10 they’re going to talk about a design issue, not a defect.”

Given the frequency of multimedia bugaboos, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto could affect J.D. Power scores in a big way, but Sargent said there aren’t enough owner-reported problems with either system to report yet.

Here are the rankings and segment winners:

J.D. Power 2016 Initial Quality Study: Rankings by Brand (Problems Per 100 Vehicles)

• Kia: 83
• Porsche: 84
• Hyundai: 92
• Toyota: 93
• BMW: 94
• Chevrolet: 95
• Buick: 96
• Lexus: 96
• Lincoln: 96
• Nissan: 101
• Ford: 102
• GMC: 103
• Infiniti: 103
• Volkswagen: 104
• Industry average: 105
• Audi: 110
• Mercedes-Benz: 111
• Cadillac: 112
• Jeep: 113
• Ram: 114
• Chrysler: 115
• Mitsubishi: 116
• Dodge: 117
• Subaru: 118
• Honda: 119
• Acura: 122
• Scion: 123
• Jaguar: 127
• Mazda: 127
• Mini: 127
• Land Rover: 132
• Volvo: 152
• Fiat: 174
• Smart: 216

Some brands have insufficient sample sizes to rate. Of note is Tesla, whose over-the-air updates offer an avenue to fix how things work, not just malfunctions. J.D. Power didn’t receive enough responses this year from Tesla owners, but Sargent hopes that will change.

“We would love to do that,” he said of Tesla surveys. “Hopefully next year.”

J.D. Power 2016 Initial Quality Study: Top Three Cars Per Segment

City Car: Chevrolet Spark
Runners-up: None (others were below average)

Small Car: Hyundai Accent
Runners-up: Chevrolet Sonic, Kia Rio

Small Premium Car: Lexus CT
Runners-up: BMW 2 Series, Mercedes-Benz CLA-Class

Compact Car: Toyota Corolla
Runners-up: Kia Forte, Hyundai Elantra

Compact Sporty Car: Buick Cascada, Scion tC (tie)
Runner-up: Hyundai Veloster

Compact MPV: Kia Soul
Runners-up: None (others were below average)   

Compact Premium Car: Lincoln MKZ
Runners-up: Lexus ES, BMW 3 Series

Compact Sporty Car: Audi TT
Runners-up: Porsche Boxster, Porsche Cayman

Midsize car: Toyota Camry
Runners-up: Nissan Altima, Honda Accord

Midsize Sport Car: Dodge Challenger
Runners-up: None (others were below average)   

Minivan: Chrysler Town & Country
Runner-up: Dodge Grand Caravan (others were below average)

Midsize Premium Car: Lexus GS
Runners-up: Audi A7, Hyundai Genesis

Midsize Premium Sporty Car: Porsche 911
Runners-up: None (others were below average)

Large Car: Hyundai Azera
Runners-up: Buick LaCrosse, Chevrolet Impala

Small SUV: Kia Sportage
Runners-up: Hyundai Tucson, Buick Encore

Small Premium SUV: Audi Q3
Runner-up: BMW X1 (others were below average)

Compact SUV: Chevrolet Equinox, GMC Terrain (tie)
Runner-up: Ford Escape

Compact Premium SUV: Porsche Macan
Runners-up: Lincoln MKC, BMW X3

Midsize SUV: Toyota Highlander
Runners-up: Kia Sorento, Nissan Murano

Midsize Premium SUV: BMW X5
Runners-up: BMW X6, Lexus RX

Midsize Pickup: Nissan Frontier
Runners-up: GMC Canyon, Chevrolet Colorado

Large SUV: Chevrolet Tahoe
Runners-up: Toyota Sequoia, Ford Expedition

Large Premium SUV: Lincoln Navigator
Runners-up: Infiniti QX80, Land Rover Range Rover

Large Light-Duty Pickup: Chevrolet Silverado 1500
Runner-up: GMC Sierra 1500 (others were below average)

Large Heavy-Duty Pickup: Chevrolet Silverado 2500/3500
Runners-up: Ford F-250/350/450, GMC Sierra 2500/3500