DOMESTIC AUTOS OUTPERFORM EUROPEAN AUTOS IN QUALITY
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA—Japanese-branded vehicles continue to produce the highest quality vehicles over the long term, but European automobile manufacturers have lost their edge over U.S. domestic-branded vehicles, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2003 Vehicle Dependability Study (VDS).
The 2003 study, which measures problems reported by original owners of 2000 model-year vehicles at three years of ownership, finds that although there is near parity between domestic autos and European autos in initial quality, substantial quality gaps appear between the two in long-term durability. On average, models by domestic automakers outperform European automakers by 49 problems per 100 vehicles at three years of ownership. The market research firm did not disclose how many problems actually occurred.