SOUTHFIELD, Mich. - Bayerische Motoren Werke AG and Chrysler Group each won three segments in J.D. Power & Associates’ annual study of the most appealing brands and vehicles, including many that scored poorly for quality.
Ten of the 20 category winners in the Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout Study, such as the Ford Fiesta subcompact and Porsche AG’s Cayenne sport utility vehicle, garnered the lowest overall quality score in Power’s annual study of new-car quality, which measures the average number of defects in the first 90 days of ownership.
BMW’s X3 SUVs and Z4 Roadster sports car earned segment awards in the study after receiving the lowest rating for new car quality a month earlier.
“You can say, ‘I have an issue with the car, the cup holder isn’t where I’d like, there’s too much brake dust, but I still love the car,’ ’’ Thomas Plucinsky, a BMW spokesman, said in a telephone interview. “That’s the dichotomy we see between the two studies.’’
Redesigned models with new features tend to score high in the study “but may have some teething troubles from an initial quality standpoint,’’ Dave Sargent, a J.D. Power vice president, said in a telephone interview.
The Dodge Challenger, Ford Motor Co.’s F-150 light-duty and Honda Motor Co.’s Ridgeline earned segment awards in both Power studies.
Ford fell from fifth to 23d in the Initial Quality Study in June after glitches arose in some of its MyFord Touch dashboard systems. The technology was panned by Consumer Reports magazine that same month.
