Detroit closes in on Toyota in key quality measure

By Poornima Gupta and Soyoung Kim

DETROIT (Reuters) - Detroit's top-selling auto brands, Ford and Chevrolet, have almost eliminated a long-criticized gap with Toyota in new car quality, according to a closely watched survey released on Monday.

Luxury brands captured the top three spots, while Chevrolet, Ford and Toyota were in what amounted to a statistical dead heat further down in the rankings, the survey by J.D. Power and Associates found.

"Have the leading domestic nameplates caught up with Toyota? The answer is almost," Dave Sargent, vice president for auto research at J.D. Power, said at a briefing in Detroit.

Sargent said the gap is "as narrow as it has ever been."

New vehicles sold by the three U.S. automakers have improved in initial quality by an average of 10 percent compared with 2008, according to the survey, which records difficulties faced by new car owners in the first 90 days of ownership.

The results underscored the competitive pressure on the industry at a time when U.S. sales have been driven to 30-year lows and both GM and Chrysler have been forced to rely on federal financing to restructure through bankruptcy.

Overall vehicle quality improved at its fastest rate since 2004, reflecting improved consumer satisfaction with 2009 model-year vehicles and fewer reported problems.

Toyota Motor's (7203.T) Lexus brand took the title for highest quality followed by Porsche. General Motors's GMGMQ.PK Cadillac was No. 3 in J.D. Power's Initial Quality Study.