In the annual ranking of car brands released by Consumer Reports, Audi leads the pack and is followed by two other German premium marques: Porsche and BMW, both of which have managed to improve their ratings compared to the 2016 analysis. The Ingolstadt-based marque has posted an overall score of 81, thus trumping Porsche by three points and BMW by four.

To better understand how the points are being attributed to each brand, these results are overall scores obtained by combining the following factors: owner satisfaction, road tests, predicted reliability, and safety. Even though Audi is first in the overall rankings, it’s important to point out Porsche has a better road test score (88 vs 86), while BMW is on a par with Audi as far as road test results are concerned.

While the top five brands are unchanged from last year, the order is not the same taking into account Porsche and BMW are up by two positions, Lexus is down by one, while Subaru has lost three spots.

If you’re wondering about which U.S. brand ranks highest, it would have to be Tesla on eighth spot with an overall score of 73 points and a road test score of 88 points based on a range consisting of just two models. At the bottom of the charts, Fiat is dead last with a mere 41-point overall score and 52-point road test score.

Here are the complete rankings:

Rank Brand Overall Score Road Test Score
1 Audi 81 86
2 Porsche 78 88
3 BMW 77 86
4 Lexus 77 74
5 Subaru 74 81
6 Kia 74 77
7 Mazda 73 75
8 Tesla 73 88
9 Honda 72 77
10 Buick 72 72
11 Toyota 71 68
12 Hyundai 70 73
13 Acura 68 73
14 Volvo 68 77
15 Lincoln 68 80
16 Infiniti 67 77
17 Chevrolet 67 74
18 Cadillac 66 79
19 Chrysler 66 84
20 Mercedes-Benz 66 80
21 Ford 65 74
22 Nissan 64 69
23 Volkswagen 64 78
24 Mini 60 71
25 GMC 60 73
26 Jaguar 59 79
27 Dodge 56 74
28 Land Rover 52 71
29 Mitsubishi 51 46
30 Jeep 45 55
31 Fiat 41 52


Chrysler had the highest jump among all 31 ranked automakers, managing to climb seven places. As for Acura, Cadillac, and Infiniti, these three brands also performed way better compared to 2016 by moving up six places. Kia was the best non-premium marque by finishing in sixth place with an overall score of 74 points and a road test score of 77 points.

CR wishes to reiterate corporate behavior was not taken into consideration.

Source: Consumer Reports

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