Quality Innovations at Ford

"Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) supplanted Toyota as leader of the pack in J.D. Power and Associates' annual initial quality rankings released Wednesday, grabbing more individual awards than any other automaker for the first time since 1998, when it tied for the top spot.

Ford ranked highest in five of 19 segments in this year's survey. That's two better than in 1998 - the last time a U.S. automaker was on top - when Ford tied with Toyota (NYSE: TM) and Honda (NYSE: HMC).

Ford took the top spot in five of 19 segments in the survey, better than the three it garnered the last time around. The Dearborn automaker earned segment awards for the Ford Mustang, Lincoln Mark LT, Lincoln MKZ, Mercury Milan and Mazda MX-5 Miata. Mazda is 33.4 percent owned by Ford.

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Ford's Lincoln brand, which jumped from 12th to third in overall vehicle quality, averaged 100 problems per 100 vehicles. It was behind Porsche and Toyota's Lexus luxury brand, which averaged 94 problems per 100 vehicles.

"We saw dramatic improvement from Lincoln," said Neal Oddes, J.D. Power's director of product research and analysis. "It was a fantastic year for the Mercury Milan, with dramatic improvements in terms of defects."

Overall, he said, Ford's strength came from new launches such as the Edge, MKX and MKZ.

Ford spokeswoman Anne Marie Gattari said those launches "speak volumes about what we're doing right."

"What we saw today is the result of several years of adhering to our design and manufacturing processes with complete discipline," she said. "It took some time for the results to be evident."

Bottomline:

Ford rocks!! I have seen the Edge on the road and also the MKX and MKZ - these are great looking cars . Also the Mustang. Ford is making cool cars that consumers want, with better quality, and sound manufacturing processes. Quality Innovations at Ford!!