edmund's Inside Line discusses the
latest results of J.D. Power's annual Initial Quality Survey which were released last week and reflect a sharp decline in the manufacturing quality of "launch" vehicles. MINI tied with VW with 131 problems per 100 vehicles. The most problem free vehicles were made by Lexus with 73 problems per 100 vehicles. edmund's notes:
An interesting side note is that although BMW makes Mini, the workmanship for Mini is worse than for BMW's own cars. BMW had 109 problems per 100, two points away from the industry average. Although most Mini's are manufactured in the United Kingdom, the Countryman is manufactured in Austria. Time will tell if this plant produces better cars. According to Auto Observer, Mini had the highest amount of customer complaints to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in May 2011. BMW had significantly less complaints during the same month.
