DETROIT -- Lincoln led all brands in reliability after three years, market research firm J.D. Power and Associates said Thursday, in a boost to the Ford luxury brand's attempt at a sales revival.
Lincoln took the No. 1 position for the first time in the two-decade history of the J.D. Power and Associate's Vehicle Dependability Study, which measures the reliability of 3-year-old vehicles by compiling the number of problems per 100 vehicles. The luxury brand averaged 101 problems, compared with the industry average of 151. That translates into about 1 problem per Lincoln vehicle, whereas the industry averaged 1.5 problems per vehicle.
Lexus finished second with 109 problems per 100 vehicles, and Jaguar placed third with 112.
Overall, foreign brands' 3-year-old models averaged 18 fewer problems per 100 vehicles than domestic brands. But in another J.D. Power study that focuses on new vehicles, Detroit automakers' quality last year outperformed that of foreign automakers for the first time in the study's 24-year history. That should translate to an improved three-year reliability score for domestics by 2013.
J.D. Power based the three-year reliability study on responses this fall from 43,700 original owners of 2008 model-year cars.
Since announcing the death of Mercury in June, Ford has promised to revive Lincoln with seven new or redesigned vehicles in the next four years, including its first compact car.
From 2005 to 2009, Ford worked hard to recast Lincoln's styling and design. Since 2005, Lincoln has introduced four new models, each with a distinctive bow wave grille.
Still, Lincoln's sales performance continues to lag. Lincoln's sales increased 3.6 percent last year, but that was the slimmest gain among major luxury brands and it was smaller than the industry's gain of 11 percent. Through February of this year, Lincoln's 16.1 percent sales decline also trails all luxury brands.
The J.D. Power recognition "really is some confirmation for us that the processes that we put into place three or four years ago, the product-development processes that we undertook, are starting to show," said Scott Tobin, director of Lincoln product development.
Now Lincoln needs validation in the overall marketplace. Tobin said durability, which links closely with longer-term reliability, is the No. 1 purchase influencer for consumers.
Overall, Detroit automakers continued to trail their overseas counterparts, with only Buick, Cadillac and Ford joining Lincoln above the industry average. Still, the industry as a whole reached its most reliable level in the study's two-decade history.
But industry improvements are slowing due to an increase in problems with new electronic features, J.D. Power said. The industry has improved an average of 6% annually since 2009, compared with an annual 8 percent improvement over the past decade.
"Automakers, as a whole, have made significant improvements in reducing traditional problems, particularly with vehicle interiors; engines and transmissions; and steering and braking," said David Sargent, J.D. Power's vice president of global vehicle research, in a statement. "However, as manufacturers add new features and technologies to satisfy customer demand and new legislation, they face the potential for introducing new problems."
Automakers can stand out in a market filled with new electronics by making their systems reliable, Sargent said.