Porsche once again emerges as the best for Quality

Porsche has once again turned to be the top brand for quality in the 2015 survey involving more than 84,000 car buyers. The survey was conducted in February and March by the J. D. Power consulting firm.

Kia and Jaguar were in second and third place respectively while Kia's sister brand Hyundai was at fourth. Infiniti rounded out the top five finishers in the survey.

The worst-performing brands were Fiat, Smart, Chrysler, Subaru and Jeep. According to John Humphreys, senior vice president of JD Power, the Korean brands have been improving quality for years. They are bringing consumers into the process as they design cars, especially with electronics.

The improvement is also being witnessed in US and European brands. The Japanese brands raised their overall score. However, the rest of the industry improved at a faster rate.

Korean brands led the industry with only 90 problems per 100 vehicles, which are 11 fewer problems than last year. European brands followed with 113 problems and surpassed Japanese brands for the first time.

Mr. Humphreys said, "There's a shift in terms of who is doing the best in terms of industry leadership. The shift is significant, because Japanese brands promote their quality and reliability, but that advantage is eroding and the Japanese will have to find another way to differentiate themselves".

The survey indicated that the improvement in the quality of cars and trucks made by European, Korean and US companies in recent years is making difficult for Japanese automakers to keep the pace.