J.D. Power: Lincoln tops in dependability

It's the first time that Ford's luxury brand made it to the top spot of the Westlake Village research firm's widely followed list. Lexus was in the runner-up slot, with Jaguar, Porsche and Toyota rounding out the top five. J.D. Power measures reliability by compiling the number of problems per 100 vehicles. Lincoln averaged 101 problems, compared with the industry average of 151. From the Detroit Free Press:

From 2005 to 2009, Ford worked hard to recast Lincoln's styling and design. Since 2005, Lincoln has introduced four new models, each with a distinctive bow wave grille. Still, Lincoln's sales performance continues to lag. Lincoln's sales increased 3.6% last year, but that was the slimmest gain among major luxury brands and it was smaller than the industry's gain of 11%. Through February of this year, Lincoln's 16.1% sales decline also trails all luxury brands.

2011 vehicle dependability rankings

1. Lincoln: 101
2. Lexus: 109
3. Jaguar: 112
4. Porsche: 114
5. Toyota: 122
6. Acura: 123
7. Buick: 125
8. Mercedes-Benz: 128
9. Cadillac: 130
10. Hyundai: 132
11. Honda: 139
12. Ford: 140
13. Saab: 146
14. Infiniti: 151
15. Smart: 152
T16. Chevrolet: 156
T16. Volvo: 156
18. Subaru: 157
19. Kia: 160
20. Audi: 161
21. BMW: 164
22. Scion: 166
23. Ram: 173
24. Mazda: 181
25. Nissan: 183
26. GMC: 184
27. Mitsubishi: 186
28. Suzuki: 190
29. Volkswagen: 191
30. Chrysler: 202
31. Dodge: 206
32. Land Rover: 212
33. Jeep: 214
34. Mini: 221