J.D. Power and Associates recently released its long-term Vehicle Dependability study, and among the ten best scoring vehicles, seven of the first eight vehicles on the list were American brands. Score one for Detroit! Cadillac, Mercury and Buick all bested the Lexus LS 460, which has been the perennial powerhouse for several years running, and Ford’s three brands bested the industry average, with four different models among the top eight vehicles.

Japanese automakers have long ranked higher than their American counterparts, but this year American vehicles stood above the pack. The study confirmed that Detroit has indeed learned from its mistakes of the past however long it was before the bankruptcies, but even with these amazing scores American buyers still don’t trust Detroit names. This perception gap marks the huge difference between perceived quality and real quality, with the perceived quality of Detroit vehicles a lot lower than it actually is (the real quality). Since 2007 GM has been paying 45% less in warranty costs than in previous years, which means that their vehicles are actually good vehicles! I guess we just need to spread the word to buy American, because that’s where it’s at right now.