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The Toyota Canada factory in Cambridge, Ontario, which recently stopped making the Corolla due to production shifting to Mexico, has been named the best auto plant in North America for quality.
According to J. D. Power’s yearly quality report released Wednesday, cars built at the Cambridge facility had just 17 defects per 100 vehicles – the lowest rate across North America.
Right behind it was Toyota’s Cambridge South plant, producing the Lexus RX, with 19 defects per 100 vehicles.
For comparison, the industry average sits at 112 issues per 100 cars made. Globally, a BMW factory in South Africa that makes the 3 Series was ranked number one with only 15 defects per 100 vehicles.
Back in April, Toyota said it would move Corolla production to a new $1 billion assembly plant located in Guanajuato, Mexico.
The Corolla-one of North America’s top-selling models-had been produced in Cambridge since the ’80s.
Toyota mentioned that after stopping Corolla production, the Cambridge plant would shift focus toward making mid-sized vehicles that have higher value but didn’t specify exactly which models would be built there next.
Suzanne Baal, Toyota’s communications manager, told the Cambridge Chronicle that there’s no risk of closure for the plant. She said an announcement about fresh investment and new technology coming to Cambridge will happen later this year along with news about a new higher-value vehicle being made there.
She expects job levels to stay “stable” once those changes roll out and added that the Cambridge site “has shown its worth” by building such high-quality vehicles.
Changes in quality rankings
J. D. Power also pointed out a shift in quality leaders this year: Japanese-made cars are no longer leading as most reliable or defect-free according to their annual automotive quality survey.
Cars from European, Korean and U. S. makers have gotten so much better recently that Japanese brands are struggling to keep up with them now. The overall quality for all 2015 models has improved compared to before.
The study surveyed over 84,000 new car buyers during February and March and found Porsche still holds first place for quality. Kia jumped five spots into second place while Hyundai took fourth. Jaguar came third followed by Infiniti rounding out fifth place on problems reported within first three months of ownership.
Lexus and Toyota landed at numbers nine and ten respectively-better than some other Japanese competitors but trailing behind Chevrolet and Lincoln. Japanese brands slipped behind Korean and European ones overall.
Korean companies have steadily raised their game by involving customers more when designing features-especially electronics-said John Humphreys, J. D. Power’s senior VP.
“There’s a shift in terms of who is doing the best in terms of industry leadership,” Humphreys said.
