Filed under: Audi, Jaguar, Kia, Tesla



A couple weeks ago, J.D. Power released its latest Initial Quality Study, which gave high marks to Porsche, Hyundai and General Motors, with the latter earning more individual IQS awards than any other manufacturer. Now, it's Strategic Vision's turn, and it's doling out its praise not to Porsche, but to Tesla, which wasn't even included in the JD Power IQS.

The Model S was named the best vehicle overall in total quality, while Porsche's corporate brother and endurance-racing rival, Audi, was named the best premium brand, alongside Jaguar. Strategic Vision cited the Q5 and the ancient Q7 for individual segment awards, as well as the A5, which was a mere point off the top of its segment. SV also handed out compliments for the Audi's interior work. The win for the German brand is a nice improvement over its IQS score, with which it landed above the industry average, but solidly mid-pack.

Jaguar was without a segment winner, although SV did say that the Indian-owned English brand had a number of vehicles very near the top of their segments. This is the second significant win for Jag in two weeks, after it finished second overall on the JD Power IQS a few weeks ago.

In a surprise win, Kia took the title for mainstream manufacturers, with Strategic Vision calling out the Soul and the Optima for their "youthful, cool styling cues that not only make a strong statement but offer a solid foundation of quality." The South Korean brand took seventh in the JD Power IQS.

Notable segment winners include a few that left us scratching our heads, like the Mitsubishi Lancer tying the Dodge Dart for the best small car, and the Mini Cooper Roadster beating out the Mazda MX-5 Miata for the Standard Convertible segment. Others, though, were more predictable - the Chevrolet Corvette Stingray topped its segment, as did the Volkswagen Golf, Lexus IS and Mercedes-Benz SL.

While Strategic Vision calls this study its Total Quality Index, unlike JD Power, there's more to it than simple reliability. In addition to reliability, it also analyzes positive and negative experiences from consumers as they relate to problems with their vehicle, the driving experience and other, unnamed measures.

"Quality is much more than simply counting problems and watching for the horse race," Darrel Edwards, the founder and executive chairman of Strategic Vision, said in what seemed like a thinly veiled shot at JD Power. "When we declare Total Quality rankings, you're seeing results of something meaningful and predictive, which are the result of measuring what matters to the customer."

You can view the full press release from Strategic Vision below, which includes a complete listing of winners in each category.Continue reading Audi, Jag, Kia and Tesla top Strategic Vision 2014 Total Quality Index

Audi, Jag, Kia and Tesla top Strategic Vision 2014 Total Quality Index originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 06 Jul 2014 13:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.



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