J.D. Power, global marketing and information company, named Kia at the top of their 2017 list for new vehicle quality. This is the second year in a row the Korean manufacturer has achieved this honor, placing above all other major auto makers, including luxury brands.
80,000 consumers who purchased 2017 models this year were surveyed about issues they experienced with their new vehicles within the first 90 days. Common complaints logged were about malfunctioning technology, including poor voice recognition capabilities, but Kia, who replaced previous first-place honorees Lexus and Porsche in 2016, had the least reported problems.
Last fall, Consumer Reports named Kia one of its top five brands for reliability, so this recent recognition isn’t surprising. At the time Jake Fisher, Consumer Reports’ auto testing director, speculated that Kia’s strategy of using time-tested technology instead of releasing new features before they are ready for the market is what makes the brand so popular with consumers who are looking for quality in their auto purchase. New Kia owners tend to report less problems with their purchases because the technology used has been perfected so that any unanticipated bugs or issues with the systems are rare.
Vehicles are major investments, so it’s no doubt that Kia’s top placement on this J.D. Power list will make the brand more appealing to modern drivers, who tend to hold on to their vehicles for longer than previous generations. Quality is extremely important to today’s consumers, and Kia is demonstrating that as a company they understand this trend.
