VW takes beating in new JDP IQS

["Shaun D. Mullen" <smullen@philly.infi.net>]

The Associated Press and USA Today have stories today on the 1999 J.D.
Powers Initial Quality Survey, the widely followed measure of vehicle
quality.  Volkswagen takes a beating.

New Jaguars had the fewest defects (110 per 10 vehicles), followed by
Buick (114), Infiniti (118), Acura (124), BMW (125), Lexus (131), Toyota
(135), Honda (137), Cadillac (139) and Chrysler (148).  At the bottom,
Kia had the most defects (333), followed by Suzuki (299), Isuzu (242),
Jeep (234), VOLKSWAGEN (223), Daewoo (216), Land Rover (200), Mitsubishi
(199), GMC (199) and Hyundai (194).  The average for all vehicles was
167.

Audi presumably was somewhere in between, but neither story had the
entire list.  Under Power's agreement with manufacturers, the survey is
not made public (with good reason in VW's case), but the executive
summary apparently was leaked to the two news outlets (by Jaguar, one
would presume).

Says USA today of Volkswagen: "Despite critical acclaim, huge sales
increases, impressive crash-test scores and executive pledges of high
quality, it finished near the bottom: 223 problems per 100 vehicles.
All models scored poorly, Power says, and the New Beetle was especially
troublesome.  Mix in VW's Audi luxury brand and VW's corporate score
edges up to only 213."

Shaun Mullen
West Grove, PA