For the second straight year, the Dodge and Ram brand have taken a one-two finish in the 2020 J.D. Power Automotive Performance Execution and Layout (APEAL) Study™. This year, the brands finished in reverse order with the Dodge brand taking the top spot. This comes hot off of the news, that both brands did extremely well with the J.D. Power’s Initial Quality Study (IQS). Dodge became the first domestic brand to ever take the first position in the study and now becomes the first domestic brand to come in first in both studies.
“These ratings are consistent with our continuing focus on improving the ownership experience for our customers,” said Mark Champine, Head of Quality, FCA North America. “Our focus will not waver, nor will our efforts.”
Redesigned this year to capture greater detail, the APEAL study rates the emotional bond between customers and their 2020 model year vehicles. This is determined by customer feedback on the vehicle’s attributes that cover everything from seating comfort to throttle response, during the first three months of ownership. The feedback is then aggregated on an overall 1,000 point APEAL index.
What was amazing is that the Dodge and Ram brands were separated by only one point, with scores of 872 and 871, respectively. These results outdistance their nearest competitor by more than 13 points and far-exceeds the study’s mass-market brand average of 838.
For the third time in four years, the iconic Dodge Challenger earned top bragging rates in the highly competitive Midsize Sports Car category. Ram’s 1500 half-ton pickup captured the top speed in the high-volume Large Light-duty Pickup segment. In both the Large Car and Minivan categories, the Dodge Charger and Chrysler Pacifica held down the second place spots and the Dodge Durango ranked third among Upper Midsize SUVs.
All three of Dodge’s core products (Challenger, Charger, and Durango), drove the Dodge brand’s first-place finish in this year’s IQS, which uses reported problems per 100 vehicles to assign quality scores for a model’s first three months in service. Dodge brand’s total tied for lowest among 31 competitors, while Ram ranked third and Jeep improved six spots to record its best-ever finish. These results helped FCA climb five positions to a first-quartile industry placing that was 13 points better than the industry average.
