Koreans Jump in Initial Quality - Hyundai passes Toyota

http://www.jdpower.com/news/releases/press....asp?ID=2004037

For the first time, Korean-branded vehicles outpace both European- and Domestic-branded vehicles in initial quality, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2004 Initial Quality StudySM (IQS) released today.

Thirty out of 37 nameplates have improved IQS scores from 2003. Hyundai, which jumps an impressive 16 rank positions from 2003, makes the most significant advancement, improving 29 percent year-over-year to rank seventh. Between 1998 and 2004, Hyundai has improved by 62 percent—more than any other nameplate and nearly twice the industry average of 32 percent.

"The fact that Hyundai is now outperforming even perennial quality leaders like Toyota—and in a relatively short amount of time—is nothing short of remarkable considering the vast quality gap it faced just a few years ago," said Ivers. "This kind of improvement simply cannot be achieved without a serious commitment to quality over the long haul. The question now is whether Hyundai can demonstrate this same level of improvement in terms of new-vehicle launch and long-term vehicle quality."

[Broken External Image]:http://www.jdpower.com/presspass/pr/images/2004037c.gif

 

Isn't dependability rated over years?

So, if they're rating the 3/5 year old Hyundais, you would expect them to be lower in dependability relative to their 3/5 year old compatriots, just as they were in initial quality at that time.

Edit: Yeah, I checked JDPower - "The Vehicle Dependability Study measures problem symptoms of 3-year-old vehicles"

So, take the IQ survey from three years ago, and see if Hyundai is more or less dependable than was indicated by their IQ then.

That might (not conclusively but indicator) give a clue as to how dependable they may be with higher IQ.