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The quality of Chinese-built vehicles is catching up to global brands, said a new report by J.D. Power and Associates, a global marketing information services firm. Overall new-vehicle initial quality in China has improved by 14% this year from 2008.
The J.D. Power Asia Pacific 2009 China Initial Quality Study, now in its tenth year, looks into problems experienced by new-vehicle owners within the first two to six months of ownership. Problems are examined in two distinct categories of design quality and production quality, measured by defects and malfunctions.
Overall performance is determined by problems experienced per 100 vehicles (PP100), with a lower rate of problem incidence indicating higher quality. The overall initial quality averaged 178 problems per 100 vehicles in 2009, compared with 207 PP100 in 2008.
The study shows that the gap in initial quality between Chinese and international brands has dropped by more than 240%, from 396 PP1100 at the inception of the study in 2000, to 116 PP100 in 2009. Initial quality for domestic brands has improved by 60 PP100 from 2008, to an average of 258 PP100 in 2009.
Some Chinese brands demonstrate particular strengths in certain vehicle segments in the domestic market, such as the compact and minivan categories, where they strike a good balance between price and quality, said a research services executive at J.D. Power Asia Pacific.
Vehicle models that ranked highest in their respective segments included those built by Chery, Toyota, Volkswagen, Audi, Honda, Buick, and Hafei, according to the Chinese-made auto quality study.