Hyundai’s luxury brand Genesis ranked highest overall and in the premium segment for innovation, according to J.D. Power‘s 2021 U.S. Tech Experience Index released Wednesday.
Genesis scored 634 on a 1,000-point scale.
Rounding out the premium segment was Cadillac with 551 points, Volvo with 550, BMW with 545 and Mercedes-Benz with 523.
Hyundai also took the top slot in the mass-market segment with a score of 519. Kia came in second place with 510 points. Nissan posted a score of 502, Subaru had 499 and GMC scored 498.
Tesla Inc. scored 668 Innovation Index points, the highest in the study. But the electric vehicle maker was not officially ranked because it doesn’t give J.D. Power permission to survey owners in 15 states where it is required. J.D. Power said that Tesla’s score is based on results in the 35 remaining states.
Hyundai also ranked highest in the mass market segment in last year’s iteration of the study, when it scored 556 points. And Volvo ook the 2020 top slot overall for innovation in the premium segment with 617 points.
The two studies shared key findings: Customers routinely opt for cameras in their vehicles and many dislike the potential unreliability of gesture-controlled features.
The TXI study is based on responses from 110,827 owners of new 2021 model-year vehicles who were surveyed after 90 days of ownership. It was conducted between February and July 2021, J.D. Power said.
The study analyzes 36 technologies divided into four categories: convenience, emerging automation, energy and sustainability, and infotainment and connectivity.
The Cadillac Escalade and Ram 1500 snagged convenience awards in their respective model segments for camera rearview mirror technology.
The Lexus IS was honored in the emerging automation category for reverse automatic emergency braking technology. The Hyundai Elantra won the emerging automation award for a mass-market model because of its front cross-traffic warning technology.
The Lexus IS was also honored in the premium segment for its infotainment and connectivity features — more specifically, its virtual assistant connectivity to vehicle technology. The Kia K5 was awarded for the same technology in the mass-market segment.
