The study, now in its 12th year, measures the number of problems experienced per 100 vehicles (PP100) during the past six months by owners of 13- to 48-month-old vehicles. A lower score reflects higher quality. The study covers 177 specific problems grouped into eight major vehicle categories: vehicle exterior; vehicle interior; driving experience; features / controls / displays; audio / communication / entertainment / navigation; heating / ventilation / air conditioning; seats; and engine / transmission.

GAC FCA Jeep ranked the highest overall with a score of 115 PP100, followed by FAW Toyota in second with 125 PP100, Land Rover in third with 127 PP100, and BMW in fourth with 128 PP 100.

When it comes to Chinese Domestic brands, FAW Hongqi is ranked the highest with 132 PP100 followed by WEY and Soueast. Among the brands present in the Philippines, MG ranks fourth (139 PP100) followed by Chery (140 PP100) in fifth. Geely is in seventh (141 PP100) while GAC Trumpchi is eleventh (145 PP 100).

This speaks well for Jeep Philippines since they source the Renegade and Compass SUVs from its joint-venture plant with GAC in China. And speaking about these two SUVs, they are the highest ranked compact SUV in terms of dependability with the Compass ranking first and the Renegade ranking second.

According to the 2021 study, the gap in vehicle dependability between luxury brands and mass market brands in China has narrowed. In fact, luxury vehicle owners experience more problems than mass market vehicle owners in driving experience, vehicle interior, and engine / transmission as the tenure of ownership increases.

Additionally, the number of problems experienced by luxury owners increases more rapidly than by mass market vehicle owners over time—during 13 to 18 months of ownership, luxury brands have 5.9 PP100 fewer than mass market brands in performance; however, at 30 to 48 months of ownership, luxury brands increase to 6.4 PP100 more than mass market brands.

When it comes to Chinese Domestic brands, the gap in vehicle dependability between them and international mass market brands narrows to just 6 PP100 in 2021 from 9 PP100 in 2020. Domestic brands improve notably in engine/ transmission, which decreases by 6 percentage points in 2021, compared with 2020.

The 2021 study is based on responses from 36,860 vehicle owners who purchased their vehicle between December 2016 and May 2020. The study includes 239 models from 49 different brands and was fielded from January 2021 through June 2021 in 70 major cities across China.