What Are the Most Appealing Vehicles in 2023?
What attracts you to certain vehicles? In what ways do they satisfy you? We could probably ask a thousand of you and get a thousand different answers.
Earlier this summer, U.S. market research firm J.D. Power released its 2023 Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout (APEAL) Study, which is an indicator of the most appealing and satisfying makes and models in the auto industry. Just as the initial quality of new vehicles keeps declining, it found that owner satisfaction is down for the second consecutive year—a first in 28 years.
The APEAL Study measures owners’ emotional attachment and level of excitement with their new vehicle, ranging from the sense of comfort they feel when climbing into the driver’s seat to their exhilaration when they step on the accelerator. It is based on responses from more than 84,000 owners of new 2023 model-year vehicles in the U.S. who were surveyed after 90 days of ownership from February to May 2023. We believe the results would be fairly similar in Canada.
More specifically, the study looked at 10 main factors, nine of which have declined year over year. The only factor to improve? Fuel economy. By the way, owners of battery electric vehicles continue to be more satisfied than those driving conventionally powered vehicles. Satisfaction with exterior styling on new models in 2023 is particularly unremarkable, J.D. Power found, while built-in infotainment systems are a prime example of a technology not resonating with today’s buyers.
The Most Appealing Car Brands
Despite being close to average in initial quality and among the worst for reliability, per J.D. Power, Jaguar and Land Rover sit atop the ranking of premium brands in the 2023 APEAL Study, which is a testament to their continued power of attraction. Porsche is actually tied with the latter and BMW comes right after.
Dodge is the mainstream brand that makes the most appealing vehicles for the fourth consecutive year, followed by Ram and GMC. And in case you’re wondering about Tesla, it remains one of the higher-performing brands in the industry. However, satisfaction scores for Elon Musk’s company have declined year over year in all 10 factors.
The Most Appealing Models
All segments considered, the venerable Porsche 911 is the highest-ranking individual model in the entire 2023 APEAL Study. Surprised? We don’t think so. But get this: Kia set a record for the most brand awards in a single year with seven.
In fact, we’ll leave you with the complete list of category winners for 2023:
- Hyundai: Genesis GV60, Hyundai Santa Cruz, Kia Carnival, Kia EV6, Kia Forte, Kia K5, Kia Rio, Kia Stinger and Kia Telluride
- BMW: BMW 7 Series, BMW X4, BMW iX, MINI Cooper and MINI Countryman
- Toyota: Lexus IS, Lexus RX and Toyota Sequoia
- Nissan: Nissan Ariya and Nissan Titan
- Volkswagen: Porsche 911 and Porsche Taycan
- Stellantis: Dodge Challenger
- Mercedes-Benz: Mercedes-Benz CLA
- General Motors: Chevrolet Blazer
- (JLR) Jaguar Land Rover: Land Rover Range Rover
What do you think?
