Land Rover scores biggest gap between perceived and actual quality – US study

Ford Motor's Mercury is the most under-appreciated of brands on the US market for quality, while Ford's Land Rover is the most over-appreciated, according to a report by Wall Street firm Morgan Stanley.

The firm compared data from J.D. Power and Associates' 2003 Vehicle Dependability Study, which tracks reliability over three years, and CNW Market Research's Perceived Quality Survey to identify the vehicle brands which have the most opportunity to improve customer perceptions.

While Ford's Mercury brand was the one whose models' actual dependability as measured by J.D.Power respondents most exceeded consumers' relatively poor perceptions of it, Land Rover scored worst in the opposite sense – with quality perceived exceeding actual quality by a score of 75.3%. Ford itself scored 0% - its reliability scores equaling consumers' perceptions.