JD Power releases 2006 Initial Quality Survey results

The first thing you should know about this year's JD Power IQS is this: You can not compare rankings or scores in this year's study with any previous year. JD Power has restructured the study to seperate 'real' problems from simply issues customers have with design choices (the infamous Mini Cooper cupholder issue from a couple years back and the Hummer H2 fuel economy complaints would now fall under this other category). Ultimately, this means that this is an interesting year for brands and models jumping up and down the list markedly. Cadillac is the #1 ranked American brand (7th overall) this year with a score of 117 (industry average is 124). Ranking higher than Cadillac as brands are Porsche (91), Lexus (93), Hyundai (102), Toyota (106), Jaguar (109), and Honda (110). It will be interesting to see how this change in the JD Power rankings will change vehicle design in the future. See the results at: JD Power - 2006 IQS Results