Kia named best new car brand in 2020 as Tesla debuts in last place - unofficial

Kia has been recognized as the highest quality new car brand in the US.

The original 2020 JD Power Quality Survey (IQS) was released in the US, where Kia and Dodge set the benchmark for quality among all new car brands, with Tesla unofficially debuting in last place.

Kia finished in first place for the sixth year in a row, while one of its South Korean siblings, Genesis, sets the standard for premium new car brands for the fourth year in a row.

The reason Tesla's debut was unofficial was its decision not to give JD Power permission to survey its owners in 15 states, which was required for an official result.

However, JD Power was able to collect a large enough sample of owner surveys in the other 35 states to allow Tesla's result to be calculated, albeit unofficially.

IQS 2020 looked at issues found by owners of new MY20 vehicles during the first 90 days of ownership, with quality determined by issues per 100 vehicles (PP100). So the lower the score, the better.

For reference, the average PP100 for the study was 166, with 14 of the 32 participating new car brands able to beat it (see results in the table below).

Multimedia systems were responsible for the most common problems, accounting for almost a quarter of the problems. Touchscreens, built-in sat nav/voice control, Apple CarPlay/Android Auto and Bluetooth connectivity were some of the biggest complaints.

JD Power Initial Quality Study 2020 (IQS)

Ranging	Brand name	Problems per 100 vehicles (PP100)
1	Kia	136
1	Evasion	136
2	Aries	141
2	Chevrolet	141
3	genesis	142
4	Mitsubishi	148
5	Buick	150
6	GMC	151
7	Volkswagen	152
8	Hyundai	153
9	Jeep	155
10	Lexus	159
11	Nissan	161
12	Cadillac	162
12	Infiniti	173
14	Ford	174
14	Mini	174
15	BMW	176
16	Toyota	177
16	Honda	177
17	Lincoln	182
18	Mazda	184
19	Acura	185
20	Porsche	186
21	Subaru	187
22	Chrysler	189
23	jaguar	190
24	Mercedes-Benz	202
25	Volvo	210
26	Audi	225
27	Land Rover	228
28	Tesla *	250

*Unofficial ranking and result