WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA-For the first time, Korean-branded vehicles outpace both European- and domestic-branded vehicles in initial quality, and is second only to Japan, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2004 Initial Quality Study (IQS).

Manufacturers of Korean-branded vehicles, driven by Hyundai's performance, have cut initial quality problems by 57% in the past six years-dropping from 272 problems per 100 vehicles (PP100) in 1998 to 117 PP100 in 2004. This improvement is in contrast to the state of initial quality among the Korean-branded vehicles in 1998, when they trailed the industry-leading European-branded nameplates by 116 PP100. The Koreans now lead the Europeans by 5 PP100 and the domestics by 6 PP100, but trail the Japanese by