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Cobalt improves initial quality score
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Chevrolet Cobalt at the 2009 Cleveland Auto Show
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In this Vindicator archive photo, Cobalts are seen on the assembly line at GM Lordstown.
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Chevrolet unveiled its new Cruze to the press Wednesday, September 24, 2008 at the Paris Auto Show. Expected to get close to 40 miles-per-gallon, the Cruze will go on sale in Europe next March. Production for U.S. sales will begin in 2010.
The car finished ninth out of 20 compact cars in initial quality.
By Don Shilling
The Chevrolet Cobalt improved its initial quality score by J.D. Power and Associates, but expectations are even higher for the new model coming to the Lordstown car plant next year.
The Cobalt is ranked ninth out of 20 compact cars in the Power survey, which was released Monday.
“The quality is good, but it’s not segment-leading. There’s some tough competition in that segment,” said Dave Sargent, vice president for automotive research for California-based Power.
Jamie Hresko, General Motors vice president of quality, said he’s looking forward to an improvement when the Chevrolet Cruze replaces the Cobalt at Lordstown next year.
“When that plant gets the Cruze, they are going to have a great opportunity to build a winner,” he said.
He said the Cruze is being engineered so that it will be easier to build and the content inside the new car should be better.
Power listed the Cobalt as having 111 problems per hundred vehicles. In last year’s rankings, the Cobalt had a score of 119.
Power asks consumers to rate their cars in hundreds of areas after 90 days of ownership. The questions deal with design issues, such as locations of switches, and also with equipment function, which can be related to assembly-line issues.
Despite an improved score for the Cobalt, it dropped in Power’s rankings this year because of improvements by other vehicles. Last year, the Cobalt was ranked sixth, as compared to ninth this year.
The leader in the segment was the Hyundai Elantra at 80 problems per hundred vehicles. The runners-up were the Toyota Prius at 83 and Honda Civic at 91.
Hresko said he was pleased with GM’s overall performance this year, although the automaker will strive to improve.
As a brand, Cadillac was ranked third overall, just behind Lexus and Porsche. Cadillac had an average of 91 problems, compared with Lexus’ average of 84.
Chevrolet finished ninth in the brand rankings at 103, just behind Toyota at 101 and Ford at 102. Hresko noted that Power said that Chevrolet was statistically equivalent to Toyota in the rankings.
Chevrolet and Cadillac make up 70 percent of GM’s sales.
Overall, the initial quality of 2009 model year vehicles sold by the Detroit Three improved by an average of 10 percent from last year. Industrywide, scores improved an average of 8 percent.
“The Detroit automakers are keeping their focus on designing and building high-quality vehicles, which is a precondition for long-term success,” Sargent said.
XThe Associated Press contributed to this report.
The top performers in J.D. Power and Associates’ annual survey of initial quality for 2009 model year vehicles:
Subcompact car
Highest ranked: Toyota Yaris
Runners-up: Hyundai Accent, Honda Fit
Compact car
Highest ranked: Hyundai Elantra sedan
Runners-up: Toyota Prius, Honda Civic
Compact sporty car
Highest ranked: Scion tC
Runner-up: Volkswagen GTI
Compact premium sporty car
Highest ranked: Nissan Z
Runner-up: Mercedes-Benz SLK-Class
Entry premium car
Highest ranked: Lexus IS
Runners-up: Cadillac CTS, Infiniti G-Series
Midsize car
Highest ranked: Nissan Altima
Runners-up: Pontiac G6, Chevrolet Malibu
Midsize sporty car
Highest ranked: Ford Mustang
Runners-up: none
Midsize premium car
Highest ranked: Lexus GS
Runners-up: Acura RL, Lexus ES
Large car
Highest ranked: Mercury Sable
Runners-up: Toyota Avalon, Chevrolet Impala
Large premium car
Winners: Lexus LS
Runner-up: Mercedes Benz S-Class
Compact activity vehicle
Highest ranked: Chrysler PT Cruiser Wagon, Honda CR-V (tie)
Runner-up: Mitsubishi Outlander
Midsize activity vehicle
Highest ranked: Chevrolet TrailBlazer, Ford Edge, Toyota 4Runner (tie)
Runners-up: none
Midsize premium activity vehicle
Highest ranked: Lexus GX
Runners-up: Lexus RX, Cadillac SRX
Large activity vehicle
Highest ranked: GMC Yukon
Runners-up: Chevrolet Tahoe
Large premium activity vehicle
Highest ranked: Lexus LX
Runners-up: Cadillac Escalade, Mercedes-Benz GL-Class
Midsize pickup
Highest ranked: Honda Ridgeline
Runners-up: Nissan Frontier, Ford Ranger
Large pickup
Highest ranked: Ford F-150, Toyota Tundra (tie)
Runners-up: Chevrolet Avalanche
Van
Highest ranked: Toyota Sienna
Runner-up: Honda Odyssey
Source: J.D. Power and Associates