Tesla delivers advanced vehicles with incredible electronics that should put it miles ahead of General Motors in any ranking, but that’s not the case for J. D. Power. One of the most objective car rating companies, J. D. Power, uses a system that is easy to understand and track. Because of this, GM has ranked well ahead of Tesla in its most recent testing.

Wasn’t Tesla ranked high by many experts in the past?

Yes, in fact, Consumer Reports gave Tesla the highest score ever achieved in 2015. This score was so high that CR had to revise its scoring system to keep it on a 100 scale. Since that time, the news wasn’t nearly as good for Tesla.

By 2016, Consumer Reports began to see Tesla as much less reliable than the previous year. When it comes to the J. D. Power ranking reported for initial quality last month, Tesla ranked near the bottom of the back. In fact, the brand places seventh from last place and below some of the brands we’ve known to show up near the bottom every year, including Land Rover and Jeep while sitting even with Mitsubishi.

The J.D. Power initial quality rankings are pretty simple. Scoring is based on the number of problems reported per 100 vehicles sold.

General Motors raked in the awards from J. D. Power

GM has four main brands under its umbrella: Cadillac, GMC, Chevrolet, and Buick. All four of these brands placed in the top ten for initial quality. In fact, General Motors was so successful this year that Buick ranked in the top spot, taking home the award as the best car brand for initial quality.

Those top ten rankings from J. D. Power are:

10. Ford

9. BMW

8. Cadillac

7. GMC

6. Lexus

5. Kia

4. Genesis

3. Chevrolet

2. Dodge

1. Buick

Some vehicles from GM finished top in their class

The Chevrolet Corvette won top honors as the car with the single highest initial quality rating. Other General Motors models that reached top spots in their classes are:

• Chevrolet
  • Malibu
  • Equinox
  • Silverado 1500
  • Silverado HD
  • Tahoe
• Buick Encore GX
• Cadillac
  • Escalade
  • XT6

This gives General Motors nine different models that won the Initial Quality Award from J. D. Power, while Tesla has zero.

General Motors won a factory award as well

The GM factory in San Luis-Potosi, Mexico, won the Platinum award as the factory with the fewest defects and malfunctions in the vehicles produced.

The runner-up for factory awards is the Toyota plant, Takaoka 1, in Japan. This factory takes home the Gold award in a tie with BMW’s Regensburg plant in Germany.

Once again, we don’t see Tesla taking home any of the J.D. Power awards this year.

Should you buy a Tesla or a vehicle from one of the General Motors brands?

If you want an award-winning name behind the vehicle you drive, you should lean toward the GM brands. Tesla has won some awards in the past but has a lot of work to do to catch up to General Motors.

Not only will you find award-winning models with the GM brands, but you’ll see a much larger selection of vehicle options to choose from, giving you the drive you desire.

Next, check out the extreme off-road nature of the GMC Sierra 1500 AT4X, or learn more about the Initial Quality awards in the video below: