The Worst Car Brands in America

By Douglas A. McIntyre Published Oct 31, 10:12AM EDT

Follow 24/7 Wall St. on Google

This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.

The Worst Car Brands in America — © Cheri Alguire / iStock Editorial via Getty Images

The U.S. auto industry continues to struggle with poor sales. In September, just over 1 million cars were sold in the United States, a nearly 30% decline compared to five years prior. The effects of COVID and the more recent inflationary period have kept Americans away from the dealership lots and have also caused supply chain issues, further cutting into sales.

Despite the difficulty that consumers have as they look for cars, the methods by which they decide which brand to buy have not changed much. Several car media and research firms supply highly followed evaluations of brands and models. These include J.D. Power, Motor Trend, Edmunds, and Car and Driver. (Here is another ranking: This is the least dependable car in America.)

One of the annual studies most carefully followed by car buyers is by Consumer Reports. For its recently released “Which Car Brands Make the Best Vehicles?” report, 32 brands were evaluated. Each received an overall score, out of 100, based on four factors: reliability, road tests, safety, and customer satisfaction. The road test portion involved 50 tests. Reliability ratings were based on reports in troubled areas. Owner satisfaction data was gathered from questionnaires sent to Consumer Reports subscribers. Safety scores were based on independent research.

In the introduction to the new survey, the authors wrote: “Each year our brand rankings reflect the changes that inevitably come as automakers introduce new cars and fix problems in vehicles already on the market.”

The brand that did most poorly was Jeep, part of Italian auto manufacturer Stellantis. The company also owns the Chrysler, Fiat, Ram, Opel, and Peugeot brands. Currently, it is the sixth-largest car company in the world.

Jeep received the lowest score at 45. This put it just ahead of GMC, which was second worst at 48, and Mitsubishi and Land Rover, which each scored 49.

Jeeps began as army vehicles in World War II. The brand has had several owners since then. Jeep is one of several popular commercial products you never knew were invented by the military.

Click here to see this is America’s worst car brand

1. Subaru
> Overall score: 81

[in-text-ad]

2. Mazda
> Overall score: 78

[recirclink id=1044478]

3. BMW
> Overall score: 78

4. Honda
> Overall score: 77

[in-text-ad-2]

5. Lexus
> Overall score: 77

6. Audi
> Overall score: 75

[in-text-ad]

Porsche (CC BY 2.0) by Mondo79

7. Porsche
> Overall score: 74

[recirclink id=1061579]

8. Mini
> Overall score: 74

9. Toyota
> Overall score: 74

[in-text-ad-2]

Infinity (CC BY 2.0) by vMan4U

10. Infinity
> Overall score: 72

11. Buick
> Overall score: 72

[in-text-ad]

12. Acura
> Overall score: 72

[recirclink id=1057210]

13. Chrysler
> Overall score: 71

14. Hyundai
> Overall score: 70

[in-text-ad-2]

15. Nissan
> Overall score: 68

16. Dodge
> Overall score: 67

[in-text-ad]

17. Volkswagen
> Overall score: 67

[recirclink id=1056662]

18. Kia
> Overall score: 65

19. Genesis
> Overall score: 64

[in-text-ad-2]

20. Volvo
> Overall score: 64

21. Cadillac
> Overall score: 63

[in-text-ad]

22. Ford
> Overall score: 62

[recirclink id=1056085]

23. Tesla
> Overall score: 60

24. Chevrolet
> Overall score: 60

[in-text-ad-2]

25. Mercedes-Benz
> Overall score: 60

26. Lincoln
> Overall score: 57

[in-text-ad]

27. Jaguar
> Overall score: 54

[recirclink id=1044478]

28. Alfa Romeo
> Overall score: 50

29. Land Rover
> Overall score: 49

[in-text-ad-2]

30. Mitsubishi
> Overall score: 49

31. GMC
> Overall score: 48

[in-text-ad]

32. Jeep
> Overall score: 45

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.