Cars and Drivers

Fiat Chrysler Quality Ratings Hammered by Consumer Reports

Douglas A. McIntyre

Published: February 24, 2016 6:43 am

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 12:48 pm

In January, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (NYSE: FCAU) posted another month of impressive sales improvement, mostly because of demand for its Jeep sport utility vehicles (SUVs) and Ram pickups. Quality ratings of its brands have not come close to matching sales. In a Consumer Reports annual study “to determine which car brands consistently deliver vehicles that serve consumers well,” Fiat Chrysler brands were slaughtered.

The Consumer Reports data covered 30 brands. The lowest rated among them was the troubled Fiat brand, which has made no progress in the U.S. market. The leader among all brands in the study, Audi, posted an overall score of 80. Fiat’s score was 36, which put it at the bottom of the list. Among the Fiat models tested, none was recommended for purchase. Jeep, in the next to last place with an overall rating 43, also had no recommended models. Neither did Chrysler, which finished in 26th place. Only Dodge made the recommended list with 17% of its models. It ranked 25th overall, with an overall rating of 58.

Fiat Chrysler brands also have posted terrible ratings in other studies, particularly the J.D. Power 2015 U.S. Vehicle Dependability Study.

Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne has a large problem in the United States, which is whether consumers will start to turn their backs on vehicles made by the company he runs. Poor quality is bound to smother sales eventually. The open issue is by how much, and when.