Kia Achieves First Place as a Mass Brand in US JD Power Durability Quality Study

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki-min Lee] Kia has achieved first place among mass-market brands for the first time in the United States' most prestigious durability quality evaluation.

On the 19th, Kia announced that it received the Best Durability Quality Mass-Market Brand Award among 18 mass-market brands in the '2021 Vehicle Dependability Study (VDS)' conducted by the U.S. market research firm JD Power. Including luxury brands, Kia ranked 3rd overall among 32 brands, marking the highest ranking in Kia's history.

The VDS surveys customers who have owned their vehicles for three years after purchase, assessing satisfaction with durability quality across 177 items, then calculates the number of complaints per 100 vehicles to measure quality satisfaction. A lower score indicates fewer customer complaints and higher satisfaction.

The 2021 VDS was conducted on 33,251 vehicles from 153 models across 32 brands, including 14 luxury brands, sold in the U.S. from July 2017 to February 2018.

In this mass-market brand category evaluation, Kia scored 97 points, recording the best mass-market brand performance in Korean automotive history. Kia's mass-market brand ranking rose by six places compared to the previous year. The brands following Kia were Toyota (98 points), Buick (100 points), Hyundai (101 points), and Chevrolet (115 points).

Additionally, by vehicle segment, the ▲K5 (Optima) ranked first in the mid-size category, ▲Sportage in the compact SUV category, and ▲Sorento in the mid-size SUV category, with a total of three models receiving the 'Segment Winner' award.

Kia expects this result to contribute to enhancing brand value and increasing vehicle sales, as durability quality is directly linked to used car prices and residual vehicle value, which influence vehicle purchase decisions.

In particular, JD Power's durability and initial quality study results are actively used as a purchasing standard by U.S. consumers and serve as a key indicator to gauge the quality competitiveness of manufacturers.

Meanwhile, Kia has dominated first place among mass-market brands for six consecutive years since 2015 in JD Power's 'Initial Quality Study (IQS)'.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.