This Is the Worst Car Brand in America

By Douglas A. McIntyre Published Dec 14, 8:00AM EST

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Car brand ratings are a major anchor of many research firms and media. These include significant studies from U.S. News, Consumer Reports, Edmunds, Motor Trend, Car and Driver and J.D. Power. The most recent comprehensive study of car brands comes from the American Customer Satisfaction Index, one of the most widely respected research firms in the country.

In the ACSI Automobile Study 2020-2021, the average score across the industry for automobiles and light vehicles is 78 out of 100 — the same figure from the study a year ago. And according to the report, the worst car brand in America is Chrysler.

Cars in the study are divided into two categories: mass market and luxury. In terms of scores, the difference between the two categories is relatively small. David VanAmburg, managing director at ACSI, commented: “Over the last few years, luxury automakers’ satisfaction lead over mass-market manufacturers has been slowly eroding. That gap is now almost nonexistent.”

The Automobile Study 2020-2021 is part of a much broader set of studies that query 500,000 people on 400 companies across 56 industries and sectors.

The car brand with the lowest score is Chrysler at 70, down 4% from last year. Chrysler is owned by Stellantis, a company created by the merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and PSA Group. It is currently the sixth-largest car company in the world.

The Chrysler lineup of modestly priced cars has shrunk to the Pacifica and Voyager minivans and the 300 Sedan. Founded in 1925, it was, for years, among the largest car companies in America.

Next from the bottom is Mitsubishi, one of the smallest-selling brands in America, with a score of 71. Just ahead of Mitsubishi is Infiniti, the luxury brand of Nissan, with a score of 75. Four brands are then tied with a score of 76 — Lincoln, the luxury brand of Ford; Jeep, another Stellantis brand; GM’s Chevrolet; and Acura, the luxury brand of Honda. And this is the slowest selling car in America.

Honda tops the ACSI Automobile Study with a score of 82. Just behind it with scores of 81 are Subaru, BMW, and Lexus, the luxury brand of Toyota. Find out if any are among the best selling cars in America.

Click here to see the worst car brand in America

15. Ford
> 2021 score: 78
> 2020 score: 76 — #20 out of 29 car brands(tied)
> YoY change from 2020 to 2021: 2.6% — 7th largest increase

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14. GMC (GM)
> 2021 score: 78
> 2020 score: 78 — #10 out of 29 car brands(tied)
> YoY change from 2020 to 2021: No change

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13. Mercedes-Benz
> 2021 score: 78
> 2020 score: 80 — #2 out of 29 car brands(tied)
> YoY change from 2020 to 2021: -2.5% — 5th largest decrease

12. Buick (GM)
> 2021 score: 77
> 2020 score: 76 — #20 out of 29 car brands(tied)
> YoY change from 2020 to 2021: 1.3% — 10th largest increase

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11. Kia
> 2021 score: 77
> 2020 score: 77 — #16 out of 29 car brands(tied)
> YoY change from 2020 to 2021: No change

10. Volkswagen
> 2021 score: 77
> 2020 score: 78 — #10 out of 29 car brands(tied)
> YoY change from 2020 to 2021: -1.3% — 9th largest decrease

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9. Volvo
> 2021 score: 77
> 2020 score: 78 — #10 out of 29 car brands(tied)
> YoY change from 2020 to 2021: -1.3% — 8th largest decrease

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8. Cadillac (GM)
> 2021 score: 77
> 2020 score: 80 — #2 out of 29 car brands(tied)
> YoY change from 2020 to 2021: -3.8% — 4th largest decrease

7. Chevrolet (GM)
> 2021 score: 76
> 2020 score: 76 — #20 out of 29 car brands(tied)
> YoY change from 2020 to 2021: No change

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6. Jeep (Stellantis)
> 2021 score: 76
> 2020 score: 76 — #20 out of 29 car brands(tied)
> YoY change from 2020 to 2021: No change

5. Acura (Honda)
> 2021 score: 76
> 2020 score: 77 — #16 out of 29 car brands(tied)
> YoY change from 2020 to 2021: -1.3% — 7th largest decrease

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4. Lincoln (Ford)
> 2021 score: 76
> 2020 score: 77 — #16 out of 29 car brands(tied)
> YoY change from 2020 to 2021: -1.3% — 6th largest decrease

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3. Infiniti (Nissan)
> 2021 score: 75
> 2020 score: 79 — #7 out of 29 car brands(tied)
> YoY change from 2020 to 2021: -5.1% — 2nd largest decrease

2. Mitsubishi
> 2021 score: 71
> 2020 score: 77 — #16 out of 29 car brands(tied)
> YoY change from 2020 to 2021: -7.8% — the largest decrease

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1. Chrysler (Stellantis)
> 2021 score: 70
> 2020 score: 73 — #28 out of 29 car brands
> YoY change from 2020 to 2021: -4.1% — 3rd largest decrease

About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.