Print edition: 
DETROIT — Ford and General Motors achieved impressive marks in the latest vehicle dependability study released Thursday by J.D. Power and Associates.
Lincoln finished second to only Porsche in the study, which measures the number of problems experienced by the owners' 2007 model year cars. Mercury and Ford also scored in the top 10.
"It's pretty impressive to get all three of them in the top 10," said David Sargent, J.D. Power's vice president for global vehicle research.
Meanwhile, GM's Buick brand finished in third place and the Cadillac DTS was the top-rated vehicle in the entire study, beating the Lexus LS which has finished first for the past several years.
The Cadillac DTS had the fewest problems of any car in the industry with just 76 problems per 100 vehicles.
"It is the first time in more than a decade that a domestic brand vehicle has been the top-rated vehicle," Sargent said.
Cadillac scored above the industry average of 155 problems per 100 vehicles over the three-year period, but GMC and Chevrolet scored below average. Land Rover finished last with 255 problems per 100 vehicles during the period.
Sargent said GM's performance in the study is likely to improve over the next several years because the company has made manufacturing improvements that are not showing up yet on the long-term study.
"We've seen substantial improvements for all of four brands they are keeping," Sargent said. "They are heading in the right direction."
According to J.D. Power, quality and the perception of quality are the most influential factors for consumers when they buy cars. Also, brands that perform well on the study tend to have higher resale values.
In the past, Toyota has typically outperformed all other manufacturers, but its dominance is less evident this year.
The company's luxury Lexus brand slipped from third to fourth while the Toyota brand slipped from fourth to sixth.
Five Toyota or Lexus models finished first in J.D. Power's segment awards, but that is down from nine last year.
"Toyota has hit kind of a plateau on reliability and dependability," Sargent said.
Chrysler's score on the study fell one point from last year. However, Chrysler's ranking dropped because other manufacturers improved.
"Clearly, they have a lot of work to do," Sargent said. "They are working hard on it. They are very smart people and are dedicated to fixing it."
