Do safety rankings work during a sales pitch?
Buick became the first auto brand from Detroit’s Big 3 automakers in three decades Monday to place in the top three in Consumer Reports‘ annual ranking of the most reliable automobiles.
The upscale General Motors nameplate came in third behind Lexus and Toyota in the closely watched index that predicts how well cars will hold up over the years.
Out of 29 brands, Asian nameplates accounted for seven of the top 10 spots. Lexus was ranked first, with a predicted reliability score of 86, followed by Toyota, Buick, Audi, Kia, Mazda, Hyundai, Infiniti, BMW and Honda.
Vehicles sold by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles continued to struggle in the survey with four of its brands — Dodge, Chrysler, Fiat and Ram — occupying the bottom four slots.
Consumer Reports rankings reliability rankings are based on a survey that analyzes the magazine subscribers experiences with new vehicles over the past three years. That feedback is used to predict future reliability.
Chevrolet ranked as the second-best domestic brand and is in 15th place overall among the 29 brands covered.
Buick has been performing well in the Consumer Reports survey for several years and has also emerged as a top performer in other industry studies.
In February, Buick was also the third best-ranked brand in J.D. Power’s influential vehicle dependability study — which measures problems experienced by owners over a three year period.
