38 — Friday, December 18, 1992 — North Shore News

Big Three make gains in quality study |

TEN YEARS ago, the task
of separating ‘‘the men

from the boys’’ wasn’t too
difficult.

David

All you had to do was whisper
the word, ‘‘quality,’’ and the Big
Boys from Detroit shivered away
in embarrassment. Then, say the
word, ‘‘reliability’’ a little louder,
and the Boys disappeared from
sight. .

Today, say the same “words —~
loudSy if you wish -~ and no one,
not even the Big Boys, wifi run
avay.

Just lock at the statistics com-
piled by J.D. Power and
Associates, a powerful marketing
information compaay located in
Agoura Hills, California, and the

Fach Sunday,

numbers seeak for themselves.

According to their New Car Ini-
tial Quality Study (QS), which
analyzes the average number of
reported defects during :he first 90
days of ownership, four American
nameplates have reached a_ first-
class standing this year.

General Motors did the best out
of the three domestic carmakers,
ranking sixth (Saturn), ninth
(Oldsmobile), and 12th (Buick)
overall.

Ford’s luxury division, Lincoln,
also did well with a seventh rank-
ing.

All together, 33
scored and evaluated.

The IQS results are expressed as
number of reported problems (or
defects) per 100 cars. Obviously,
the lower the number, the higher
the quality of the product.

The Japanese automakers still
lead the way, however, with In-
finiti, Lexus, Toyota, Honda, and
Nissan ranking in the top five,
respectively.

But the significant point here is
not so much the ranking itself,
but how much improvement the
Big Three have made in the past
five years,

In 1987, when the IQS was first

makes were

performed, che Asian nameplates .

averaged 143 problems per 100
cars; American, 175; and Euro-
pean, 192.

This year’s results show thy
Japanese 'eading at 105, but the
Big Three have improved their
figure to 136, and Eurepeans to
158.

in other words, today’s North
American vehicles — on average

rom November 22 to

December 27 we are publishing “Christmas
Windows”. We'd like vour help to make tnese
special features more community involved.
Please ask your children to send us their
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- we receive. Pictures are welcome too.

You could win a Christmas turkey! Send your
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‘December 21 to:
Dear Santa,

1139 Lonsdale Avenue
North Vanccuver B.C. V¥7M 2H4

1

THE VOCE OF NORTH AND WEST VANCOUVER

north'shore.

« SUNDAY - WEDNESOAY + FRIDAY

iABOVE AVERAGE MAKES - INITIAL QUALITY STUDY @

Nissan |
Satum [——_
Lincoln a

Subaru [

Audi | a

Buick [~

Average ["
a

PROBLEMS PER 100 CARS

Source: 1992 J.D. Power Associates New Car Initial Quality Study

THE RESULTS of J.D. Power Associate's New Car tnitial Quailty Study (QS) were made public this
summe+ with data from 33, 573 respondents.

— are hetter made than the Japa-
nese cars back in 1987.

The IGS (initial Quality Study)
was based on data from 33,373
tespondents who bought 1992
model-ycar cars late last year.

The results were made public

ISUZU RODEO LS 4x4
V6, air conditioning, power windows & locks,

cruise, tilt, ABS, privacy glass and much much more.

this summer
(results for the 1993 model-year
cars are not available uniil next
summer).

The average value of the IQS

was 125; 12 makes ranked anove .-

average, and 2! makes scored

by J.D. Power . below average. Out of the i2

above-average makes, seven were
Japanese, and four were Ameri-
can. Only one European make

(Audi) made this ‘‘elite’’ list.
The biggest surprise was Saturn,
See Survey page 39

«)

available for pre-Christmas delivery.

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