Hyundai Named Most Appealing Non-Luxury Brand

Hyundai has managed to top yet another J.D. Power study among nonpremium brands. 

The Korean automaker scored 804 in this year’s J.D. Power APEAL study, ranking 13th overall but highest among non-luxury brands.

The study asks owners about new-vehicle appeal, getting them to evaluate their vehicle in 77 different areas. Those scores are then combined into an overall APEAL score that is measured on a 1000-point scale. This year, the overall APEAL score averaged 794, marking a single-point decrease compared to last year.

Hyundai bested Ram (800), Volkswagen (796), MINI (795) and the industry average of 794. This comes shortly after the brand was fourth overall in this year’s IQS.

SEE ALSO: 2014 J.D. Power Initial Quality Study Slams Fiat

The result makes Hyundai the first nonpremium brand to rank highest in the APEAL and IQS in the same year. Helping pave the way for the automaker’s victory was its strong performances in the audio, communication, entertainment and navigation categories. The brand also took the Small Car category with its Accent model while the midsize Sonata improved 22 points to 819.

GALLERY: 2014 Hyundai Equus

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