USA TODAY International Edition
BUYERS SWOON OVER PORSCHE
European luxury makers dominate list of favorite brands
For the 11th year, Porsche owners say they love their new cars more than those of any other brand, J. D. Power and Associates says in a new study Wednesday.
In fact, the list of the mostloved auto brands is dominated by European luxury makers. After Porsche comes Jaguar, BMW, Mercedes- Benz, Audi and Land Rover.
But there, in seventh and eighth place, are two premium American brands: Lincoln and Cadillac. They bested all Asian makes, and Tesla wasn’t part of the survey.
The J. D. Power 2015 U. S. Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout ( APEAL) surveyed 84,000 buyers and lessees of new 2015 cars earlier this year to ask them what they like the most about their new wheels, based on 77 attributes.
Because luxury cars come packed with goodies, it isn’t terribly surprising that they would rank high in a survey that plays up features and other fancy touches.
But J. D. Power says it wasn’t just newfangled infotainment systems or the stitching in the leather upholstery that buyers found appealing. Rather, they loved features involving safety.
J. D. Power says, for instance, that the overall score among owners of vehicles with blindspot monitoring and warning systems is 38 points higher than among those that don’t have them. “Unlike other technologies, such as voice recognition, that can be challenging to operate, most safety features provide information in a more intuitive way, giving owners a greater sense of security,” said Renee Stephens, vice president of U. S. automotive quality at J. D. Power, in a statement.
Not all brands fared as well. Mitsubishi and Fiat fell to the near- bottom. Smart, maker of those tiny cars, rounded out the list as the brand buyers found least appealing.