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Lexus No. 1 in quality for 4th year in a row

Ho hum. Another trophy for the mantle. Lexus is the No. 1 car company again in the 2011 J.D. Power & Associates Initial Quality Study. It is the fourth year in a row that the luxury marque has emerged as the best-quality car there is in the world.

“We are quite pleased with the quality improvements Toyota and Lexus have made over the last year and Lexus’ highest position overall in the 2011 IQS,” said Jim Lentz, president of Toyota Motor Sales, parent company of Lexus. “We are committed to the quality and dependability of our products.”

Toyota, the volume maker of the Camry and other affordably priced vehicles used for everyday driving, moved up 14 places to seventh place in the 2011 rankings.

Lexus ranked first with 73 problems per 100 vehicles. Lexus has been first 13 times since it was created 22 years ago, in 1990.

Lexus won four segment awards, leading all premium brands. First-place for quality awards go to the Lexus ES 350 for Entry Premium car; the Lexus GS for Midsize Premium Car (pictured is the GS 350); the Lexus GX 460 for Midsize Premium Crossover / SUV; and the Lexus LS 460 for Large Premium Car.

The Lexus GS and GX 460 rank highest in their respective segments for the third straight year. The Lexus LS had the fewest problems of any vehicle on the road in the study, with 54 problems per 100 cars. That makes it the most reliable car on the road for the second straight year.

At Toyota, quality jumped dramatically. There are 16 fewer problems per 100 vehicles compared with year-ago levels. Showing major improvement were Toyota's Corolla, Prius, Tacoma, Tundra, Venza, RAV4 and Sequoia. All of those vehicles showed improvements of 10 fewer problems or more compared with 2010.

Two plants that make the RX were named industry best plants and won Platinum Plant Quality Awards. One is Kyushu 2 in Japan and the other is Cambridge South in Ontario, Canada. The Kyushu 1 plant in Japan, where the Hylander is assembled, won silver. No U.S.-based facilities were cited.

You can reach TorqueNews.com's Hawke Fracassa at [email protected].

Image source: Lexus

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To read Richard Gray's review of the IS 350 AWD, go to http://www.torquenews.com/1066/go-ringside-2011-lexus-350-awd

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