J.d.Power

Lexus is the top performer in a survey of vehicle dependability released Wednesday, but most other brands also showed improvement in an industry that has reached historically high dependability levels. Consulting firm J.D. Power and Associates polled 31,000 owners of 2009 model-year vehicles and rated brands by the number of problems owners have experienced in the last 12 months.

VW has set a hefty goal for itself: to displace Toyota as the world's No. 1 car company. The German automaker is actually within reach, thanks mainly to its huge lead in China. To overtake Toyota, however, VW will need to really ramp up sales in the American market.

After trailing Asian automakers for more than two decades, U.S. car companies, led by Ford Motor and General Motors, raced ahead of their foreign competition in the latest J.D. Power Initial Quality Study of new vehicles.

U.S. Banker, a prominent industry magazine aimed at banking executives, has an interesting story in its July issue about a survey that recently was put out by J.D. Power & Associates.Only 12% of more than 7,500 consumers surveyed were able to report that they had a completely satisfactory...