Initial Quality Survey
Kia Motors Corp., South Korea's second-largest carmaker, announced on June 22 that it ranked highest among 32 global general and premium brands in the 2017 US Initial Quality Study (IQS) released by J.D. Power and Associates, a US-based marketing information service company. The automaker has ranked top in overall initial quality for a second consecutive year.
Kia Motors beat premium manufacturers with a score of 72, such as Genesis with 77, Porsche with 78, Ford with 86, Ram with 86 and BMW with 88. The study measures the number of problems experienced per 100 vehicles based on 233 questions during the first 90 days of ownership, fielded from November 2016 to February 2017. The lower the score, the higher the quality. Kia Motors saw its score improve for three years in a row.
The automaker also proved its quality excellence as its seven out of eight models ranked high in the study. The Kia Forte, sold as K3 in Korea, received the best score in the subcompact car segment, the Cadenza, sold as K7 here, in the full-size car segment, the Soul in the compact multipurpose car segment, the Niro in the compact SUV segment and the Sorento in the intermediate SUV segment. The five Kia models ranked highest in their respective segments, reaching a record high. The Cadenza received the lowest score of 51 in the study.
Hyundai Motor ranked sixth with a score of 88 this year, well below the industry average of 97. The South Korea's top automaker and Kia's larger affiliate tied for sixth with BMW and Chevrolet with 88 points, beating Nissan with 93 points. All eyes are on whether the study can make a breakthrough to improve poor sales as U.S. consumers consider the study as the standard of purchasing a car. In particular, Genesis, Hyundai Motor Co.'s luxury model, ranked first with a score of 77 among 13 premium models. Genesis took first place among premium brands in the first year of entering the U.S. market, proving its excellence. It has also ranked the highest in the study for four years since 2013, surpassing Porsche with 78 points, BMW with 88, Lincoln with 92 and Lexus with 98.