Dearborn, Michigan - The quality of Ford, Lincoln and Mercury brand vehicles now equals that of Toyota and Honda, according to the first quarter 2008 U.S. Global Quality Research System (GQRS) study conducted by RDA Group of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

The study shows Ford’s domestic brands improved eight per cent versus last year with a combined average of 1,284 things-gone-wrong (TGW) per 1,000 vehicles during the first three months of ownership. This performance is statistically equivalent to the 1,250 TGW level of Honda and Toyota.

“Last year we tied with Toyota, and this year our quality performance is as good as industry-leading Honda’s too,” said Mark Fields, Ford’s president of The Americas. “Our world-class quality is one of the most important aspects of our turnaround in North America. This consistently strong quality improvement should offer today’s customer renewed confidence, setting the stage for important new products like Ford Flex, which is launching this summer.”

A total for 15 Ford, Lincoln, Mercury vehicles are ranked in the top three of their respective segments for either TGW performance, customer satisfaction or both.

The following models are segment leaders: