It’s that time of the year for Consumer Reports to release its auto reliability brand study, and things are not looking good for BMW. The annual rankings show a worrying drop of four places to 17, with Cadillac overtaking the German luxury brand after an impressive jump of six positions. The rankings are a lot better for MINI as the British marque has made it to the top 10 after gaining no fewer than 13 places. In fact, the Oxford-based company had the biggest jump among all 28 automakers listed by CR.

Curious to know who was number one this year? The answer would have to be Lexus, followed by Mazda and Toyota. Yes, these three Japanese car manufacturers are once again the most reliable, with Nissan’s luxury brand Infiniti – also originating from The Land of the Rising Sun – claiming fourth place after climbing six positions. BMW is positioned between its two archrivals, with Audi holding tightly to the 15th spot while Mercedes is much lower since it only managed to occupy the 23rd place after falling two positions.

Lincoln is dead last on the 28th place, which is rather ironic since it represents Ford’s high-end division and the Blue Oval is much higher, at 18, after earning five spots. Tesla is in the penultimate place, while Jeep, Genesis, and Volkswagen are also near the bottom of the rankings.

The study conducted by CR shows cars are generally more reliable than SUVs, while pickup trucks and minivans are more prone to failures than the other two types of vehicles. Just so we’re clear, CR categorizes cars as sedans, wagons, hatchbacks, coupes, and convertibles. That being said, the top is exactly the opposite if we’re talking strictly about North American brands as their SUVs are the most reliable, followed by pickups and cars. Speaking of regions of the world, Asian brands are by far the most reliable, with Europe lagging behind, ahead of US car manufacturers.

If you’re wondering how CR develops its annual study, the rankings are based on the average predicted reliability score for the cars in each lineup of a brand. For a company to be ranked, CR must have enough data for at least two of its vehicles. As you have probably figured out by now, Rolls-Royce is missing.

[Source: Consumer Reports]