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Lexus leads J.D. Power's Vehicle Dependability Study for 2021

J.D. Power's latest Vehicle Dependability Study is out, and, not surprisingly, Lexus sits at the top for the ninth time in the last 10 years. Right behind Lexus is Porsche, followed by Kia, which is the highest-ranked mass-market brand in the study. Genesis, last year's top-ranked brand (in its first year included in the results), fell from first to eighth, though the G80 sedan did earn an award in its midsize luxury segment. The Porsche 911 was called out as the Most Dependable Model by J.D. Power for the second time in the last three years. The vehicles being studied are from the 2018 model year, which means owners have had three years to get to know their cars and trucks. It's notable that this year's study shows a marked improvement in overall vehicle dependability as tracked by J.D. Power. The overall level of problems, scored by the number of problems per 100 vehicles (PP100), declined by 10% compared to last year.  "The study results validate what we have known for some time," said Dave Sargent, vice president of global automotive at J.D. Power. "Automakers are making increasingly dependable vehicles — but there are still some problem areas that need to be addressed and some warning signs on the horizon." Tesla makes its inaugural appearance on the Dependability Study, though its score of 176 PP100 isn't official. Tesla is the only automaker that has chosen not to grant J.D. Power permission to survey its owners in all 50 states. As we've pointed out in the past, the Vehicle Dependability Study includes eight major vehicle categories grouped by J.D. Power as follows: audio/communication/entertainment/navigation (ACEN); engine/transmission; exterior; interior; features/controls/displays (FCD); driving experience; heating, ventilation and air conditioning; and seats. All issues reported by owners are all tracked equally, which means a problematic phone pairing procedure dings an automaker's rating the same as a blown engine or transmission. And in fact, the ACEN category has more reported problems than any other, which means the majority of problems reported don't lead to a vehicle that leaves its owner stranded. Green Land Rover Lexus Porsche Car Buying JD Power dependability reliability

Watch feds crush classic Mini caught in importation dragnet

Fair warning for any classic car fans that suffer from high blood pressure: this story might not be good for your health. US Customs and Border Protection is teaming up with British law enforcement to keep unsafe, imported vehicles off the road here – like this Mini. In the government's view, the only way to make things right is to crush the cars, apparently. The destruction is part of Operation Atlantic, a crackdown on Minis and Land Rover Defenders that are being illegally imported. According to Yahoo Autos, this is just one of about 100 vehicles from the dragnet. This specific car came into the US in June, and its VIN indicated a model from 1988. However, the vehicle had a different engine than it should have, and the steering wheel was on the wrong side. It was likely actually from around 2000. To emphasize the crackdown, government officials and press gathered at a New Jersey junkyard to destroy the car. Check out the video below to watch the carnage and listen to the horrible crunching noises, and read the sad press release below. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Trans-Atlantic Partnership Seeks to Crush Illegal Trade of Unsafe Vehicles NEWARK, New Jersey-U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) destroyed an illegally imported and unsafe Mini Cooper Thursday at a salvage yard in New Jersey following a recent seizure at the Newark Seaport. CBP captured photos, b-roll and principal sound bites for use by news media. This Mini is just one of dozens of vehicles intercepted at ports of entry across the U.S, including ports in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Norfolk, Virginia, Charleston, South Carolina, Savannah, Georgia, Jacksonville, Florida, Houston and Tacoma, Washington. Over the past year, CBP has increased targeting and inspections of suspect imported vehicles, specifically Minis and Land Rover Defenders, as part of Operation Atlantic, a new trans-Atlantic partnership between U.S. and U.K. regulatory and law enforcement officials. "Intercepting illegal and unsafe imports is a top priority for CBP," said Brenda Smith, CBP's assistant commissioner for International Trade. "Through Operation Atlantic, we are stopping illegally imported, unsafe vehicles from driving on our roadways, and at the same time, partnering with our colleagues in the UK to stop this criminal activity at its source." Launched in March 2014 by CBP's Commercial Targeting and Analysis Center (CTAC), U.S.

The UK votes for Brexit and it will impact automakers

It's the first morning after the United Kingdom voted for what's become known as Brexit – that is, to leave the European Union and its tariff-free internal market. Now begins a two-year process in which the UK will have to negotiate with the rest of the EU trading bloc, which is its largest export market, about many things. One of them may be tariffs, and that could severely impact any automaker that builds cars in the UK. This doesn't just mean companies that you think of as British, like Mini and Jaguar. Both of those automakers are owned by foreign companies, incidentally. Mini and Rolls-Royce are owned by BMW, Jaguar and Land Rover by Tata Motors of India, and Bentley by the VW Group. Many other automakers produce cars in the UK for sale within that country and also export to the EU. Tariffs could damage the profits of each of these companies, and perhaps cause them to shift manufacturing out of the UK, significantly damaging the country's resurgent manufacturing industry. Autonews Europe dug up some interesting numbers on that last point. Nissan, the country's second-largest auto producer, builds 475k or so cars in the UK but the vast majority are sent abroad. Toyota built 190k cars last year in Britain, of which 75 percent went to the EU and just 10 percent were sold in the country. Investors are skittish at the news. The value of the pound sterling has plummeted by 8 percent as of this writing, at one point yesterday reaching levels not seen since 1985. Shares at Tata Motors, which counts Jaguar and Land Rover as bright jewels in its portfolio, were off by nearly 12 percent according to Autonews Europe. So what happens next? No one's terribly sure, although the feeling seems to be that the jilted EU will impost tariffs of up to 10 percent on UK exports. It's likely that the UK will reciprocate, and thus it'll be more expensive to buy a European-made car in the UK. Both situations will likely negatively affect the country, as both production of new cars and sales to UK consumers will both fall. Evercore Automotive Research figures the combined damage will be roughly $9b in lost profits to automakers, and an as-of-yet unquantified impact on auto production jobs. Perhaps the EU's leaders in Brussels will be in a better mood in two years, and the process won't devolve into a trade war. In the immediate wake of the Brexit vote, though, the mood is grim, the EU leadership is angry, and investors are spooked.