Winning on warranty

On the eve of J.D. Power and Associates' Initial Quality Study release for 2007, automakers talk about metrics of success.

J.D. Power and Associates' Initial Quality Study (IQS) is a valuable tool for automakers looking to improve vehicle quality and to otherwise appeal to customers. Its annual early-summer release is greatly anticipated by the auto industry as a whole, and when the MY2007 report is released this month automakers with one or more brands that score well can be expected to sing about the results.

Even for companies and brands that hit a sour note in the study, there will still be much value in the results-identifying areas of improvement, for one. And along with whatever bad news the report holds, chances are an automaker can find a good story buried in it.