Strategic Vision recently announced the winners in its Top Quality Indexâ„? (TQI) which showed the Korean car manufacturer Hyundai Motors having five segment leaders. The Hyundai brand has three leaders while the Kia brand has two. This year marked the first time that the Korean firm managed to take four segments. The California-based Strategic Vision announced the leaders in 19 segments of the United States auto market in terms of quality.
The Hyundai brand posted the most wins with three and is equaled only by Japanese brand Nissan. With Kia's two wins, Hyundai Motors has the most auto models awarded the top spots on their respective segments. The Ford Motor Company and the BMW Group each has three with MINI taking two segments for the BMW contingent. General Motors, Honda, and Mercedes topped two segments. Dodge, Lexus and Volkswagen brands each took a segment. BMW has the most points marking the eighth out of the past nine years that the German car company has achieved the feat.
Top Quality Indexâ„? is the measure of how car owners are satisfied with their vehicles. The study involves questioning car owners on the different aspects of car ownership to find out whether they are satisfied with their vehicle's reliability or not. This year's list is devoid of any Toyota vehicle even though their TQI scores have increased and improved. While Toyota and Lexus still leads the industry in reliability, they now shared this distinction with other car brands such as Honda, Hyundai, Infiniti and even Ford.
The reliability of Ford vehicles is evident in the Expedition EL which tops the Large SUV segment. According to Strategic Vision, the Expedition EL leads its class with a very wide margin and has fewer problems than other vehicles in its class. The reliability of this SUV can be likened to that of a system.
Hyundai Motors vehicles which topped their segments according to Strategic Vision include the Hyundai Azera. The Azera topped the Large Car segment in the study conducted by Strategic Vision. The Kia Sedona and the Hyundai contingent were tied with the Nissan Quest in the Minivan segment. The Hyundai Santa Fe meanwhile topped the Small SUV segment. For the Medium SUV class, the winner according to Strategic Vision is the Kia Sorento.
According to Dr. Darrel Edwards, the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Hyundai Azera Strategic Vision: "Even though Hyundai is often overlooked by the US customer, Hyundai's success in 2007 is not surprising given its' current products and press in leadership that is looking to the near and distant future with new designs from styling to powertrain."
Meanwhile, Alexander Edwards, the President of Strategic Vision, has this to say: "With automotive corporations now doing a terrific job in providing vehicles with minimal problems, the Cues of Quality (those product attributes that signal quality and create customer Trust) have a greater impact on the purchase decision. Perceived Quality has the power to change customer's perceptions of a vehicle from being 'interesting' to eventually considered and purchased." He added that: "In the past, one could count the number of problems per vehicle; but for automotive customers today and tomorrow, a comprehensive and integrated perception of the ownership experience will be what drives the decision making process."
