Volvo Cars has climbed to tenth place in the JD Powers IQS survey

Volvo Cars has climbed to tenth place in the JD Powers IQS survey. This is the company’s best placing in the past seven years. What is more, the C70 is ranked as the best sports car in the premium segment.
Last year, Volvo Cars took 20th place in the Initial Quality Study. This year, however, there was a significant climb in the rankings. Tenth place is the company’s highest position since 2002 when Volvo took fifth place.
“The IQS is the Olympics or World Championship of the car manufacturers’ world, so it feels really good to reverse a downward trend and improve our placing by a massive ten positions,” says Bengt Banck, Senior Vice President, Quality and Customer Satisfaction.
This year Volvo registered 109 problems per hundred cars. The corresponding figure last year was 118.
“Our goal was 100 problems per hundred cars and 15th place in the rankings. We met both our targets, which is excellent,” says Bengt Banck.
Volvo ahead of Audi and BMW
The top result was scored by Porsche, with just 83 problems per hundred cars. This was followed by Acura (86), Mercedes-Benz (87) and Lexus (88 problems per hundred cars).
Bengt Banck has not yet had time to analyse the results in detail. However, he wants to express his admiration for all the hard work put in by the company’s employees. “Our achievement is the result of dedicated staff who work hard every single day and whose sights are firmly set on delivering high quality,” he adds.
It is also gratifying for Volvo Cars that the C70, which is built at the Pininfarina factory in Uddevalla, is classed as the best "Compact Premium Sporty Car" ahead of the Mercedes E-Class Coupe. “The team in Uddevalla adopted our approach of aiming 15 percent above target in order to be sure of getting there. It’s an approach that delivers results.”
The industry average in this year’s survey rose from 108 to 109 problems per hundred cars, that is to say the same as the Volvo Cars result.
“We haven’t yet reached our long-term target. For example, we received comments in the "difficult to use" category. We have to quickly draw the relevant conclusions ahead of the launch of the S60 and V60,” explains Bengt Banck.
The JD Powers IQS survey measures how US customers perceive their new cars three months after delivery.
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