Mercedes beats Lexus on Initial Quality Test

Mercedes-Benz, the flagship brand of Daimler AG has regained its status over Lexus in initial vehicle quality for 2010 in the United States. Porsche ranked number one for 2010 and Acura ranked second. GM's Cadillac brand which can be found at a Jersey City Cadillac dealer did well in the study as well. Nissan's luxury Infiniti brand ranked 9th overall and can be purchased at a discount during Nissan deals.

A J.D. Power study found that Mercedes-Benz was ranked third overall in new vehicle quality, up from sixth in 2009. While Lexus, the leading brand in initial vehicle quality slipped this year from first in 2009 to fourth in 2010.

The study is a survey that has been taken annually for the past 24 years. For several years, Mercedes-Benz was the leading in initial vehicle quality in the survey. However, over the past 21 years Lexus has beaten Mercedes in the survey. Lexus was added to the survey once the brand was imported into the United States, and it has done very well against Mercedes every year for the past 21 years except for 2010.

The study is taken very seriously by many car manufacturers, and the CEO of Mercedes-Benz USA, Ernst Lieb, has been determined to regain its status as being the highest quality luxury car brand in the world in the study.

Moving up to third overall was a great step for the German based brand, who was only bested by Honda's Acura luxury line and Porsche, a luxury high performance sports brand that is too based out of Germany.

Of the news of Mercedes-Benz being ranked third, Lieb said, "Are we happy? Third is not first...We are going to try and work hard to be first next year."

The better results in the 2010 survey have been attributed to the new E-Class and and C-Class sedans, which are determined to be practically flawless vehicles. Mercedes made it a point improving vehicle quality after a large drop off in 2006 in which the brand ranked a very low 25th.