The study, now in its 22nd year, measures initial vehicle quality by examining problems experienced by new-vehicle owners within the first two to six months of ownership. Overall initial quality is determined by problems cited per 100 vehicles (PP100), with a lower number of problems indicating higher quality.

It examines problems in two segments: design-related problems and defects/malfunctions. Specific diagnostic questions include 218 problem symptoms across nine categories: features/controls/displays; exterior; interior; infotainment system; seats; driving experience; driving assistance; powertrain; and climate.

The 2021 study is based on responses from 34,158 vehicle owners who purchased their vehicle between June 2020 and March 2021. The study includes 264 models from 58 different brands and was fielded from December 2020 through May 2021 in 70 major cities across China.

Check the full ranking below, but Changan scored a 202 PP100 beating Chery (204 PP100) and Lynk & Co (205 PP100) this year. The highest ranked brand though is GAC-Honda with 184 PP100 followed by GAC-Jeep with 193 PP100, and Changan-Ford (195 PP100).

As a whole though, Chinese brands are starting to close the quality gap versus global brands to 5 PP100 from 10 PP100 in 2020. The brand image of these Mainland brands improves in all metrics, especially in reputation and environment-friendly, each by 10 percentage points year over year.

The China IQS also revealed that the percentage of problems in the traditional quality area significantly decreases year over year, with powertrain and exterior decreasing by eight and four percentage points, respectively.

However, the percentage of problems related to tech features notably increases, with infotainment system increasing to 16 percent from 11 percent in 2020 and driving assistance increasing to 8 percent from 3 percent.

In fact, the study shows that the infotainment system is the single highest problem area (33.4 PP100). 90 percent of the issues are design-related, referring to components or features that may be functioning properly but are still perceived as problems by owners because they are difficult to understand or use.

The most-often-cited problem in this year’s IQS is the power plug/USB port which charges too slowly (8 PP100). This is followed by unpleasant interior smell (7.8 PP100), and excessive road noise (7.5 PP100). Previously, unpleasant interior smell was the problem cited most often during each of the six previous years.

There are 17 models from 12 brands receiving awards across 17 segments in the 2021 study.