Elon Musk’s Tesla just hit a record it’s never reached before. For the first time ever, the company made it into the top 10 most reliable car brands in the latest Consumer Reports ranking, released Thursday.
According to that report, Tesla now holds the No. 9 spot out of 26 brands, after being ranked 17th last year, and a dismal 27th out of 28 in 2022.
Consumer Reports says it’s because the company kept making the same cars long enough to get better at it.
The rankings were based on survey responses from owners of around 380,000 vehicles, up 27% from the year before. That jump in rank didn’t mean Tesla solved all its problems. Electrically controlled doors are still a mess.
A Bloomberg investigation found hundreds of complaints filed with U.S. regulators, with Tesla being the most mentioned brand. But those recurring issues didn’t drag down its overall reliability enough to stop it from climbing.
Tesla moves up thanks to older lineup, not new designs
The reason Tesla got better at reliability has nothing to do with innovation. Consumer Reports senior director for auto testing, Jake Fisher, said the company hasn’t changed much, but that’s exactly why things have improved.
“With Tesla, it’s not that they’ve suddenly changed, but the issue is that they’ve been building vehicles in the same plant that are very similar for a while now and they’re able to improve them,” Jake said.
That pattern shows clearly in the Model S. It’s been around since late 2011, and even though it hasn’t had a full redesign in 14 years, it keeps getting refined. “The Tesla Model S is a dinosaur in the world of redesign,” Jake said. “To have a vehicle that’s going to soldier on without a full redesign is unheard of in the industry, but it’s helping them.”
Still, not all models performed the same. The Cybertruck, which is the newest one in the lineup, is the only Tesla with below-average reliability.
That reliability bump also pushed Tesla into the top 10 of Consumer Reports’ automotive report card, which includes more than just reliability. It factors in road testing, safety, and customer satisfaction.
This year, Tesla took the 10th spot out of 31 brands, moving up from 17th. The last time it cracked that list was in 2018, when it came in eighth.
Other brands lag, early adopters stick with Rivian, hybrids lead
While Tesla climbed, Rivian stayed close to the bottom. It did move up five spots to No. 26, but Jake said Rivian’s reliability remains the lowest of all brands tested.
What’s odd is that despite that, Rivian owners are the most satisfied, based on Consumer Reports’ surveys. During a webinar with the Automotive Press Association, Jake said that’s probably because Rivian drivers are early adopters who are more tolerant of flaws.
Ford’s Lincoln made the biggest jump this year. It jumped 17 places to No. 7, thanks to better reliability. The Ford brand landed at No. 18 overall, but No. 11 in reliability, its highest score in 15 years, despite dealing with recalls and quality control issues.
Meanwhile, Audi saw the biggest drop. It fell 10 spots to No. 16. And legacy American brands like Jeep, GMC, Dodge, Land Rover, and Alfa Romeo filled out the bottom of the list.
GM’s best-performing brand was Cadillac at No. 17, followed by Buick at No. 20, Chevrolet at No. 24, and GMC at No. 29. Most of these traditional U.S. automakers still can’t compete with the consistency coming out of Asia.
Hybrids, on the other hand, are still holding it down. Out of the 30 hybrid models tested, only three came in with below-average predicted reliability: the Hyundai Sonata Hybrid, Lincoln Nautilus Hybrid, and Mazda CX-50 Hybrid. That’s it. Everything else in the hybrid space came out ahead of electric and internal combustion cars.
At the top of the full brand rankings, Subaru took first place, followed by BMW, Porsche, Honda, and Toyota. That’s the company Elon is now fighting for attention with. The difference is, he did it by not changing a single thing.
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