According to figures reported by a Consumer Reports Survey, which studied vehicle qualities of major automobile manufacturers across the globe, Ford Motor Co., has made the most significant progress in ensuring quality improvement in their vehicles. Chrysler, on the other hand, hit rock bottom as it got the lowest rank among all the manufacturers studied.

"Ford definitely has closed the gap", said Rik Paul of Consumer Reports. "We started seeing that a couple of years ago. We didn't know at that time if it was a fluke or if it was something they were going to be able to maintain. Last year, they were still there and this year, they are still there".

Among others who have made an impressive improvement and rank among top quality improvers are Toyota Motor Corp. (Scion) and Honda's flagship brand. Ford is the only American brand which has managed to give a tough competition to all the Asian manufacturers with "world-class reliability", as per the report.

While the Ford Mercury bagged the 10th rank for reliability, the only US brand to make the top 10, the manufacturer itself ranked 16th and its luxury product, the Ford Lincoln, stood proud at number 20.