DEARBORN, Mich., July 16, 2009 – Results from J.D. Power and Associates most recent quality study shows all Ford Motor Company brands improved in the J.D. Power and Associates 2009 Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout (APEAL) Study(SM). This may be because Ford is listening to customers and using this feedback to steer its product design and engineering.

The Ford brand improves by 17 index points to move up six rank positions among nameplates from last year. The company’s Lincoln brand improves 18 index points and moving up two spots from last year. Mercury improves by eight index points and Volvo improves by two index points.

These results were helped by the strong performance of the company’s all-new and newly redesigned vehicles including the Ford Flex and F-150 (tie) – both taking home segment awards.

The Ford Flex and F-150 scored better than the segment average in every category, performing especially well in the areas of fuel economy and audio/entertainment/navigation.

F-150 improved 52 index points from last year. F-150 is also the highest ranked large pickup in initial quality in a tie.

“Ford’s quality rankings continue to climb consistently, year after year and we intend to keep the momentum going to become the best in the industry,” said Bennie Fowler, group vice president, Global Quality. “To do so, we’re raising the stakes and redefining what it means to deliver a quality product by giving consumers more than just defect-free cars and trucks; we’re exceeding their expectations with features they would expect to find only in high-priced luxury lines.”

APEAL is the industry’s top study measuring what customers like about the performance, execution, and layout of their new vehicle after the first three months it is in service. Customer’s rate their level of delight on a variety of vehicle attributes, including safety, fuel economy, cargo space and roominess, exterior styling and price. This year’s study is based on survey responses from owners of 2009 model-year vehicles.

To score higher in customer satisfaction, Ford is changing the way it defines quality. The company is not only delivering vehicles with fewer defects, but it is also putting greater emphasis on features that appeal most to customers.

“At Ford, we are accelerating the development of vehicles customers will fall in love with at first sight and grow even fonder of over time.” said Derrick Kuzak, group vice president, Product Development. “To deliver on that promise, our goal is nothing less than product excellence in design, feature content, safety and quality—all at an exceptional value.”

Since “gratification” is tough to define and even harder to measure, Ford had to come up with a way to understand how its customers define it. Researchers combed through surveys. They looked at historical trends and customer satisfaction rates. They talked to people who recommended Ford to their friends, and to those who dismissed the brand out of hand. By finding out what it is that makes customers feel good about being in their cars, Ford was able to put the knowledge to use and develop a set of criteria for designers and engineers to follow.

This strict set of guidelines came to be known as product DNA -- a genetic framework built into every vehicle for a consistent feel and sound that is unmistakably Ford. From this DNA, every Ford, Mercury and Lincoln vehicle, from sub compact to full size crossovers, is designed to evoke an emotional response from those who sit in or drive them.

This “emotional engineering” -- where everything about the vehicle must work together to create an emotional response – is helping Ford deliver vehicles that are gratifying to own and drive because it focuses on the human senses of sight, sound and touch.

To make sure the company’s quality criteria are met, it formed a Global Craftsmanship team of engineers who examine all the bits and pieces of the vehicle to make certain everything fits together just right. Like putting a puzzle together, the team analyzes every inch of the vehicle to check for gaps, mismatches or inconsistencies of all of the parts that make up the whole.

Ford’s Global Craftsmanship team studies how harmoniously the vehicle is put together. Their work is divided into four interior and exterior vehicle review categories: visual quality; touch and feel quality; sound quality, and illumination harmony. By creating harmony across all the systems and subsystems in the car to create a holistic experience that customers love.

Defining quality in this way can be a wide-range concept, veering from fit and finish to infotainment, depending on who is doing the judging. But at Ford, researchers have taken that concept and narrowed it down to tangibles that not only benefit the customer, but put Ford’s quality on par with any other car maker in the world, including some premium brands.

To add structure to its DNA strategy, Ford researchers used the Kano model. The Kano Model was created in the 1980's by Professor Noriaki Kano to classify customers’ needs. It provides insight into capturing and executing three different "classifications" of customer needs in order to ensure success. The model helped Ford proactively uncover, classify, and integrate its three classifications. Ford has classified its quality criteria into three basic categories:

• Basic Quality – the fundamental reliability of a vehicle.
• Performance Quality – includes attributes such as fuel economy and quietness that usually fall into the “more is better” category.
• Excitement Quality – those unexpected convenience features that surprise and delight the customers.

While the company continues to improve on Basic Quality and Performance Quality, it is working hard to own the category of Excitement Quality – the parts of the vehicle that surprise and delight. Excitement quality can include features such as incredibly comfortable seats, materials and surfaces that look good and feel right, interiors with ambiance and paint colors that seem to flow like liquid across the vehicle’s surface.

“When applying the three categories, it’s never about either/or; it’s all three,” said Kuzak. “We’re still consumed with basic quality, but we’re now also very focused on providing appeal and excitement.”

Creature comforts, such as SYNC, Multi-Contoured seats, changeable ambient interior lighting, refined sound quality in addition to good fuel economy, elegance, style, durability and quality craftsmanship, all come together to complete the ownership experience. If each of these areas is executed well, then the customer is likely to have a positive ownership experience. This is Ford’s goal.

About Ford Motor Company’s Quality
Ford has made significant strides in reducing defects. Earlier this year, the Ford brand was among the top 10 brands in the industry in J.D. Power and Associates 2009 Initial Quality Study (IQS). initial vehicle quality for the first time in RDA Group’s Global Quality Research System (GQRS). The Ford brand has also received far more “Recommended Buys” (70 percent) than its domestic competition, according to Consumer Reports 2009 Annual Auto.

About Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company, a global automotive industry leader based in Dearborn, Mich., manufactures or distributes automobiles across six continents. With about 205,000 employees and about 90 plants worldwide, the company’s brands include Ford, Lincoln, Mercury and Volvo. The company provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company. For more information regarding Ford’s products, please visit www.ford.com.