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General Motors Rises In JD Power 2013 Initial Quality Study

General Motors’ quality has impressed during this year’s JD Power & Associates 2013 Initial Quality Study (IQS), with all brands performing better than the industry average of 113 problems per 100 vehicles.

The 2013 IQS is based on responses from more than 80,000 purchasers and lessees of new 2013 model year vehicles surveyed at 90 days of ownership.  The study was redesigned for 2013 and provides manufacturers with information they can use to quickly identify problems and drive improvement.

According to the study, GMC was crowned the top-ranked non-premium brand at 90 problems per 100 vehicles, and second overall in the study, trailing only Porsche (80 problems per 100 vehicles). Lexus was third.

Compared to last year, GMC climbed a significant 10 spots, and was the top-ranked non-premium brand. Chevrolet also jumped 10 spots and ranked fifth overall and second among non-premium brands with 97 problems per 100 vehicles. Cadillac tied with Audi for 13th overall and 7th among premium brands, at 108 problems per 100 vehicles. Buick finished just behind, with 109 problems per 100 vehicles.

GM was awarded the Silver Plant Assembly Line Quality Award for its Oshawa, Ontario, plant.

Brand by brand, the following vehicles won individual awards:

Chevrolet

  • Segment Award Recipients
    • Camaro – Midsize Sporty Car
    • Impala  –  Large Car
    • Tahoe – Large CUV
    • Silverado HD – Large Heavy-Duty Pickup
    • Avalanche – Large Light-Duty Pickup
  • Segment Top 3
    • Spark – Ranked Second  – City Car
    • Equinox – Ranked Third – Compact CUV
    • Silverado LD – Ranked Third – Large Light-Duty Pickup

Cadillac

  • Escalade – Segment Award Recipient – Large Premium CUV
  • CTS – Ranked Third – Compact Premium Car

Buick

  • Encore – Segment Award Recipient – Sub-Compact CUV
  • Enclave – Ranked Second – Midsize CUV
  • Regal – Ranked Third – Midsize Car

GMC

  • Sierra LD – Segment Award Recipient – Large Light-Duty Pickup
  • Sierra HD – Ranked Second – Large Heavy-Duty Pickup

Former staff.

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Comments

  1. Unbelievably impressive! With all of Chevrolet different models, trim levels, and engine choices, starting at the Spark, to the Volt, to Camaro, to Impala, and to all the combinations of the Silverado it is absolutely impressive. The same, but to a lesser extent can be said for GMC too.

    Great job GM.

    Reply
  2. Must be sad for Toyota, Honda, and Ford finished behind a Chevrolet

    Reply
    1. Ford did awful compared to the two imports listed.

      Reply
  3. “CTS – Ranked Third – Compact Premium Car”

    Wha? I know it’s still the rating was based on the mk2 CTS, but….compact? Was the ATS forgotten about?

    Reply
  4. I am not surprised as my last three GM cars have been nearly perfect.

    The 12 Terrain no defects in the first year.

    08 HHR SS no factory defect since I bought it.

    08 Malibu only had a TPMS sensor go out on one wheel.

    That is it. Generally we have had great service on out vehicles from GM. I hope it continues.

    Reply
  5. Impressive news GM. Way to go.

    Reply
  6. The Regal was the 3rd best midsize, granted they dont sell at near the levels they should, still one of my favorite vehicles on the road at this time…

    Reply
  7. I do laugh at many of these reviews as too often two car models like the Nox and Terrain are build in the same plants with nearly the same parts and only one will make a list. We all know they are the same but because one did not have as many respond it gets left off the list.

    It just makes it look less consistent.

    Reply
    1. Yes, but since we do not know where teh Terrain scored it could be just below the Equinox in fourth place and therefore not shown.

      Pick another example.

      Reply
      1. The Terrain could also be in 8th place too. The truth is both of these vehicles are much like the trucks and are in the same class on the same footing with only small changes in styling and dash lights.

        Reply
        1. Doubtful, otherwise GMC as a brand would not have scored as highly as it did.

          Reply
  8. And to again show some fallacy in your statement (at least with this survey) we can see that the Epsilon based vehicles did very well. Regal and Impala. Again the Malibu may be in fourth place just below the Regal and the Lacrosse may also be in fourth place. And most likely they did very well since overall Chevrolet and Buick did very well and to do so all their volume models have to do reasonably well.

    Hope this makes sense.

    Reply
    1. Again you show the un-substantiation of your statement since you have neither proof or any idea where the Malibu or Lacrosse placed.

      It make perfectly no sense with out full disclosure of the data to prove otherwise.

      It is possible you could be correct or terribly wrong since we can not verify.

      My comments were based on past models where They would rate a Bonneville high up and a Lesabre or Grand Prix down and a Regal up. It has been very common over the years JD powers has rated the same cars on the same platform and built in the same plants from two different division far apart in surveys.

      I take lightly. I celebrate when they are positive and become skeptical if they are negative as their accuracy is not always the best. One has to keep in mind that often results can be skewed intentionally or not. Also working with the public you can take ten surveys and get ten results as they are often unpredictable.

      As Twain once said there are Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics. So take the good when if falls to you and contest the negative when it happens.

      Reply
      1. A little thought process and we can say with some confidence that the malibu and LaCrosse did well.

        First the Buick brand and the Chevy brand placed at the top of the pile overall. For that to happen virtually all of their volume vehicles must have high scores. If a high volume vehicle had a low score it would pull down the overall brand score.

        Second they both are part of the Epsilon II architecture which has done very well for quality.

        As far as the old W cars a lot of the initial quality was due to the wide disparity in plant quality and W cars were built in different plants.

        No, we will not know how the ones below third did but I am pretty confident they did well for the reasons I laid out.

        Reply
        1. My whole point is JD powers is not always consistent. You just take the good and toss out the bad. Most of these surveys are that way.

          The Epsilon II has been refined about as much as it can be and GM should have it right by now. The Impala is an example of what they have learned over the years and applied to this model.

          But the Epsilon II is due to be replaced. They need to move this to a lighter platform and use much of the weight loss technics they learned with the Alpha.

          While the Epsilon is not old like the W body was it is old in todays terms for a platform anymore.

          Speaking of the W it suffered more from the lack of money for development. GM cheeping out on this car and it shows in many of the issues they suffered over the years. Lutz at the end tired to put some development money in them but there is only so much you could do with the hard points of the car.

          I expect a Epsilon replacement in a couple years and it should take what they have now to the next level with proper funding for development for once. Lutz did wonders on the Epsilon with the money he had.

          Reply

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