For a long, long time, the Lexus name has led most of the world's reliability surveys; be they produced by Consumer Reports, J.D Power, or any of the other organisations that put together studies on an annual basis.
But, a surprise name has emerged at the top of J.D. Power's 2020 US Vehicle Dependency Study — this being the 31st year of the study's existence.
Lexus has had to play second fiddle, edging Buick, Porsche, Toyota, Volkswagen, Lincoln, BMW, Chevrolet, Ford, and Mazda in the top 10. The top spot, meanwhile, went to emerging luxury brand Genesis.
The brand follows a similar model to Lexus, in that it represents a flagship arm for Hyundai. Curiously, Hyundai and its Korean counterpart Kia were down in 13th and 14th — just above the industry average.
The America-centric study measures the number of problems per 100 vehicles owned by original owners in the last 12 months on vehicles that are three-years-old. In this case, the focus was on people who have owned a car purchased new in 2017.
While Genesis has been producing models for a few years now, it's the first time that it's been included in the study. It ended up with a rating of '89PP', or 89 problems per 100 vehicles. Full ratings are visible below.
At the opposite end of the table was Jaguar, Chrysler, and Land Rover — rated at 186PP, 214PP, and 220PP respectively.
Lexus did have one victory. It had the most reliable single car according to the study; the ES. The Camry-based sedan scored a stellar 53PP, which is the best rating a car has ever accumulated in the study.
Other class winners in their respective segments included the Buick Regal (a rebadged version of the Holden ZB Commodore), Ford Mustang, Nissan Leaf, Mazda MX-5, and Genesis G80.
2020 J.D. Power US Vehicle Dependency Study
1. Genesis — 89PP
2. Lexus – 100PP
3. Buick – 103PP
4. Porsche – 104PP
5. Toyota – 113PP
6. Volkswagen – 116PP
7. Lincoln – 119PP
8. BMW – 123PP
9. Ford – 126PP
10. Mazda – 130PP
11. Cadillac – 131PP
12. Hyundai – 132PP
13. Kia – 132PP
Industry average
14. Audi – 136PP
15. Nissan – 136PP
16. Acura – 139PP
17. Honda – 139PP
18. RAM – 140PP
19. Mitsubishi – 146PP
20. Mini – 147PP
21. Mercedes-Benz – 152PP
22. Subaru – 154PP
23. Infiniti – 155PP
24. Dodge – 158PP
25. Jeep – 159PP
26. Fiat – 160PP
27. GMC – 162PP
28. Volvo – 185PP
29. Jaguar – 186PP
30. Chrysler – 214PP
31. Land Rover – 220PP