In 2026, Lexus, a premium car brand owned by Japan's Toyota concern, topped the ranking of the world's most reliable car brands.
Modern.az reports that the relevant infographic was presented by the “Visual Capitalist” portal.
Lexus took 1st place for the fourth consecutive time. This brand showed the best result with an indicator of 151 problems per 100 cars. Buick was in second place with an indicator of 160, and MINI was in third place with an indicator of 168.
The first place is not surprising, as Japanese manufacturers in general have shown very successful results.
Subaru, Toyota, Nissan, Honda, and Mazda performed better than the industry average, once again confirming Japan as one of the world leaders in reliable car manufacturing.
Premium brands from Western countries such as Cadillac, Porsche, and BMW also showed high results, ranking in the upper half of the rating.
The lower part of the rating included brands whose owners reported more malfunctions. Volkswagen, Volvo, and Land Rover were among the most problematic brands. Among them, Volkswagen showed the weakest result – 301 problems per 100 cars. This is almost twice the indicator of the rating leader.
Overall, it is difficult to call the situation in the automotive industry good. This year, drivers reported more problems compared to previous years – an average of 204 problems per 100 cars.
The most problematic area was multimedia systems. Currently, software malfunctions cause more complaints than traditional mechanical problems. In particular, connectivity problems with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay remain the most complained about issue by car owners for the third year in a row.
The study also showed that car reliability varies significantly depending on the engine type. The most unreliable category was plug-in hybrids – 281 problems per 100 cars were recorded in these vehicles. This indicator has significantly worsened compared to last year.
Traditional gasoline-powered cars, however, were the only category to improve their reliability. Their average indicator dropped to 198 problems per 100 cars.
The graphic was prepared based on data provided by J.D. Power, a US automotive research company. The study evaluated malfunctions discovered by the first owners of cars after three years of operation.
Earlier, SlashGear, citing an iSeeCars study, announced the four most reliable Lexus models:
Lexus IS
Lexus GX
Lexus RX Hybrid
Lexus ES Hybrid
According to experts, these cars can travel more than 400,000 kilometers without serious malfunctions.
Automotive experts also recommended four reliable compact models worth buying in 2026:
Honda Civic
Toyota Corolla
Mazda3
Hyundai Elantra
