Lexus Takes Top Spots on Annual Consumer Reports and JD Power Lists
Of course, Lexus has led quality reports for so long, this is hardly news. But surprising or not, it’s still nice for owners to hear.
If Mercedes really thinks building cars is about being “the best or nothing,” it’s going to have to step up its game, and it wasn’t the only luxury brand to walk away from the study with a black eye. Acura—already flirting dangerously with irrelevance—and Infiniti didn’t do so hot either. Here’s what Consumer Reports had to say about the offerings from those automakers this year:
“Our Annual Reliability Surveys have found that redesigned models often come with teething problems. Mercedes-Benz was the biggest loser, taking a major hit due to a drop in reliability from several models and the low-scoring and unreliable new CLA. Acura and Infiniti also fell from grace. Acura’s once-stellar reliability has declined in recent years, and the unimpressive RLX redesign fell short in our tests. Infiniti is an example of how one low-scoring and unreliable model—here, the new Q50—can hurt a carmaker with a small lineup.
Given the problems Mercedes has had with its entry-level sedan, it makes Lexus’ decision not to offer a sub-30k model look quite wise. Maybe marketing could just change the company’s slogan to “The best or nothing. But we also make the CLA?”
The dark horse which surprised everyone this year was Buick, which cracked the top ten to come in at number seven. Not bad for a company which was written off for dead just a few years ago, and only really exists because of the Chinese market.