Drivers interested in some of the most reliable vehicles on the road will be interested to learn of a recent announcement from J.D. Power and Associates; Lincoln and Toyota rank the highest. Lincoln was an often overlooked brand in favor of other luxurious models. Changes in approach and design pushed Lincoln ahead of Toyota, Porsche, Jaguar, and Lexus in reliability.

Domestic brands largely rate at lower than imports in reliability. Even still, brands are not a good measure of the overall quality one should expect from a vehicle. Manufacturers such as Chrysler provided a fairly weak offering early on, but have further honed their automobiles into much more efficient machines. Judge a vehicle based on its individual merits and flaws, not by the brand as some would claim.

J.D. Power and Associates conducts and distributes several quality studies a year. The most recent one took stock of consumers’ opinions after a three-year ownership. Three years is generally considered long enough for any real problems to develop with an automobile, if they are going to. Overall, vehicle dependability has never been higher since J.D. Power and Associates started this study in 1990.

This ranking is great news for Lincoln as it enters an era when Ford looks to sink more money into the brand. Ford has since sold off European luxury brands Aston Martin, Land Rover, Jaguar, and Volvo. Freed money will undoubtedly be poured into advertising programs to help bolster sales of Lincoln and help grab consumer interest in the vehicles.

It should be noted that some of the vehicles featured in J.D. Power and Associates’ study were remodeled to fix problems and efficiencies at some point. Recalls were taken into consideration but they often did not cause the same kind of difficulty one would have with an unexpected breakdown.

Toyota Motor Corp. automobiles won seven of the available categories in the study. The 4Runner, Sienna, Tacoma, Tundra, and Prius all ranked highest in their respective categories. The Scion xB and Lexus RX also won their categories.

Ford scored in four categories with the highest dependability with the Lincoln MKZ and Navigator. The Ford Mustang and Fusion also ranked top in their divisions. GM and Honda both walked away with three categories of their own.

The study was conducted by J.D. Power and Associates; one of the leading arbiters of quality that consumers tend to listen to. Their study was conducted on approximately 43,000 owners of 2008-year model vehicles after three years of ownership. The study was conducted toward the end of 2010.

The posting of April sales is a continued indicator that United States auto makers are experiencing a recovery since the bailout. Ford Motor Co. enjoyed approximately a 25% increase in sales from April of 2010. GM sales were up approximately 6.4% and they posted a first quarter profit of over $3.2B. Though Toyota Motor Company has grappled with safety recalls, they posted 24% increased sales. Several other companies are seeing the same significant gains holding over from prior months.

Much of this success is attributed to the shifting domestic buyer’s taste in automobiles. The industry heard consumers clearly when they began clamoring for small, fuel-efficient vehicles. As such, several are in production and continue to be produced while medium to larger-scale automobiles are being discontinued.

Incentives from manufacturers were a major catalyst in helping to improve sales across the board. As sales have risen, manufacturers have begun dialing back quite a few of their incentive programs to try and push sales to a more normalized fashion. Sales are decreasing steadily from March when many of these incentive programs were at their peak to bring in wary customers.

Studies conducted by auto industry researching website Edmunds.com showed a reduction of nearly 5% in incentives as automakers tried to rein in their spending. Many good bargains are still available though incentives are changing. GM posted an approximate expense of $3,270 per vehicle on incentives. Though this number is quite high, the average was skewed by incentives offered on discontinued models to simply get them moved and on the road. Honda Motor Co. spent approximately $1,790, setting a new record high in incentives offered on Honda automobiles.

Increase in sales is good news for the industrial sector who is currently witnessing a void of qualified workers in quite a few markets. Manufacturers are gearing up for production of new designs, moving into roomier office buildings, and making regular payments on the government bailout they received that rescued them from bankruptcy.

Though analysts feel that it is too early to say where the recovery will ultimately lead manufacturers, it is clear that the Big Three of Detroit and other manufacturers were not ready to surrender to foreign competitors. Their coming fight will be to reclaim lost market share and get consumers back in more of their vehicles.

The violent weather currently being experienced in the southern United States has forced a halt in production at Toyota and Mercedes-Benz plants in Alabama. Emergency workers and cleanup crews are working in the area to assess the roughly two day’s worth of battering and damage from the many tornadoes that went through the area.

The Mercedes-Benz plant of Tuscaloosa, AL was indirectly struck by a mile-wide tornado that destroyed parts of the factory. The plant currently produces models from the GL, M, and R class of vehicles. Matters were further complicated by interruptions in logistics due to damaged and closed highways and off-ramps. A Mercedes spokeswoman cited the halt in production to this difficulty and tied a restart in production to reestablishment of the flow. The tornado apparently did not damage the plant beyond complete functionality.

The storm cell that produced that tornado as well as others was responsible for the damaging and power loss of several parts manufacturers and businesses as far north as Virginia. The Mercedes-Benz plant is due to stay halted until at least Friday.

A key United States Toyota engine plant was similarly affected by the loss of utility lines and power delivery infrastructure. The Huntsville, AL plant stopped production Wednesday night with the loss of power and is expected to be halted at least through the weekend. That plant produces V-6 and V-8 engines for the Tundra and Tacoma in addition to the Sequoia SUV.

Further damage to the area included cell phone towers which complicated communications for many. Golf-ball-sized hail spread damage to structures and automobiles as far north as Knoxville, TN and towards the eastern side of Georgia.

The impact of the storms is not likely to be felt in extremity as the region cleans up. Re-establishing logistics and power supplies are key to the affected plants being able to resume normal operations. None of the affected plants appeared to have suffered such significant structural damage as to necessitate a lengthy shut down.

Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama Inc. of Montgomery and Honda of Alabama Manufacturing in Lincoln reported no direct damage to their operations or supply chains due to the tornadoes. Information is still being gathered on the well-being of employees and their families.

Over 200 people perished across five states due to the tornado cells that decimated the area.

Assembly lines at the Saga Mihara factory are set to begin rolling again come April 11th. The facility, south of Tokyo, was one of 18 Toyota factories shut down and affected by the earthquake and tsunami that rocked Japan in mid-March. It joins two other Toyota plants that resumed production around March 28th.

The factories in question produce Toyota and Lexus brand cars. Much of their production is geared towards hybrids within these two lines. This is a reversal of pre-disaster plans to actually wind down production at the Saga Mihara facility and shift operations to a new facility in the Miyagi prefecture. That new facility was damaged as a result of the natural disaster and forced Toyota to adopt an entirely different approach as many other businesses have.

Japan-based automakers are finding the biggest challenge in resuming production to be logistics. Companies like Toyota, Nissan, and Honda are unable to get small plastic and rubber parts as well as electronics to the facilities needed for efficient production. Manufacturing facilities in the United States and other parts of the world have not been affected as drastically. This may change in the next couple of weeks when surplus and back ordered part reserves are finally spent.

Toyota spokesman Paul Nolasco set to rest rumors that facilities in the United States were preparing for shutdown. Despite some published reports, this is not the case nor does Toyota have any plans to do so. Toyota has reported their production goal was 200,000 units behind as of April 1st. This reduction is due solely to the shut down plants in Japan. Facilities in other parts of the world have maintained steady production.

Currently, Toyota is the world’s largest auto manufacturer and was dealt a sizable setback with many other companies. Their own plans for recovery, getting their workers back to the assembly lines, and resuming a sense of normalcy continue to plod forward. Though fifteen Toyota factories are still closed due to the earthquake and tsunami, Toyota is confident in its ability to recover and push forward in the coming weeks as Japan rebuilds.