A title that has been dominated by premium brands for the last 27 years finally has a new face. For the first time in it's history, Kia has claimed the top spot for the lucrative title in the J.D. Power’s annual Initial Quality Study. For the past 3 three years the title has gone to Porsche which fell a few points behind this year and came in second.
During the first 90 days of ownership, Kia reported 83 problems per 100 vehicles good enough for a first place score beating out Porsche's 84. The rest of the rankings were followed by Hyundai (92), Toyota (93) then BMW (94). The lowest brands for the test were Volvo (152), Fiat (174) and Smart (216).
Kia's rise to first place was not by accident as their focus on the brands quality has been noted for the past couple years. Kia ranked second overall last year with a score of 86 proving their focus on vehicle quality.