Thought this was a pretty interesting article.

The headline in this newspaper - Toyota and GM lead in quality survey -
said it all. At a time when General Motors Corp. is taking one body
blow after another, it was interesting to see that at least the
company's efforts to produce high quality vehicles are being
recognized.

Though GM did not have as many segment leaders as Toyota in the J.D.
Power initial quality study and ranked lower overall, it had more
winners than any other automaker. A closer look at the report reveals
that much of Toyota's success is based on its Lexus products. This is
not to diminish Lexus; winning first place in five market segments is
an outstanding achievement. But Toyota's relatively poor showing is
significant. Aside from the Prius winning the compact car segment (and
the Corolla appearing as a runner-up), the only Toyota-badged vehicles
to take top spots, or even appear in the rankings as runners up, were
all trucks, such the Sienna minivan and 4Runner and RAV4.

Look at the high volume car segments and GM dominates; entry midsize
car winner is the Chevrolet Malibu/Maxx, the premium midsize car award
goes to the Buick Century, with two GM vehicles in runner up positions,
and the Buick LeSabre takes top spot in the full size category.

Notably absent in any of these car categories are any Toyota or Honda
or Nissan products. Where, one might ask, is the mighty Toyota Camry or
the Honda Accord? Equally worrying from the Japanese automakers' point
of view should be the appearance of the Hyundai Sonata as a runner up
in the entry mid-size car.

The Malibu's win in its segment was especially impressive considering
that it is a new model and typically first year teething problems
undermine new vehicles in the study.

To a certain extent, this phenomenon was responsible for an overall
slip in the study by Chrysler and Dodge brands, which both launched
several new models over the last year. On the other hand Chrysler
Group's Jeep brand performed well overall and parent DaimlerChrysler
AG's Mercedes marque pulled itself back up to fifth place overall among
brands, tied with Cadillac (which continued to make a strong showing.)

As for Ford Motor Co. the picture was mixed; its luxury brand Jaguar
scored very well, second only to Lexus in the overall brand rankings.
Ford's Lincoln division also made a credible showing, but ratings of
the Volvo and Mercury nameplates slipped. Among Ford's own products,
the Five Hundred, F-150, Explorer Sport Trac, Ranger and Mustang all
appeared either as winners or runners up in their segments. But the
automaker's overall ranking slipped and was below the industry average,
as were GM and DaimlerChrysler.

The final word should go to GM's Hummer brand, which did a miraculous
job of improving from dead last in last year's survey to a strong
position just behind Nissan's Infiniti division and the other luxury
nameplates. Reportedly one reason for the turnaround is that Hummer
dealers have been making buyers aware of their vehicles' relatively low
gas mileage. Apparently Hummer buyers in the last survey complained
about their fuel consumption, a flaw that helped undermine the brand's
score. I still find it puzzling that an intelligent buyer of an H1 or
H2 Hummer could seriously be surprised by the fuel economy of these
vehicles. Perhaps it just goes to show the fickle nature of the
American consumer.

Patrick
'93 Cobra