Like ALG, a Santa Barbara based provider of data and consulting services to the automotive industry. The company wanted to see which carmaker was the head honcho in the fall of 2009 came up with the Fall 2009 Perceived Quality Score (PQS), a complicated sheet of paper which basically says Toyota and Honda were the best performers among mainstream brands, followed by German carmaker Volkswagen.
“Toyota and Honda consistently lead the industry when it comes to perceived quality,” James Clark, ALG general manager said in a release.
“These companies have maintained a long history of durable and reliable powertrains, which resonates with consumers and often leads them to rate other characteristics like safety and design positively as well. Volkswagen’s emotionally appealing designs have helped strengthen perceptions of its overall brand and lift VW into third place.”
ALG took into account a proprietary rating scale derived from surveys of car owners in the US, and then determined the relative positions of mainstream and luxury brands.
Although not among the top three, American carmaker Ford managed to show the best year-over-year improvement in perceived quality. Especially because, you know, it went through 2009 without a Chapter 1 tag stuck to its cars...
Anyway, if you are into this type of year-end numbers frenzy, the PDF attached below may be just the thing.
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