New vehicle prices keep climbing past $50,000, so choosing the right badge on the hood matters more than ever. Consumer Reports’ 2026 Automotive Brand Report Card tries to cut through the noise by ranking automakers on reliability, owner satisfaction, safety performance, and testing results. The big takeaway this year is clear. Foreign brands grabbed 9 of the top 10 spots, Subaru repeated as the overall leader, and Jeep landed at the very bottom of the rankings.

Subaru sits at number one for the second year in a row, a strong showing for a mainstream brand that still focuses on practicality and value. It is joined in the overall top ten by a mix of luxury and mass market names. Consumer Reports’ 2026 top brands are:

Subaru
BMW
Porsche
Honda
Toyota
Lexus
Lincoln
Hyundai
Acura
Tesla

Lincoln is the only Detroit based marque in that group, while Tesla earns its best result ever, with Consumer Reports now calling Tesla models the most reliable EVs thanks in part to long production runs that have allowed steady refinement of hardware and software.

Looking strictly at the premium end of the market, the luxury rankings tell a slightly different story but feature many of the same players. Consumer Reports’ top 10 luxury brands for 2026 are:

BMW
Porsche
Lexus
Lincoln
Acura
Mini
Genesis
Audi
Cadillac
Volvo

Lincoln again stands out as the lone Detroit bright spot. Cadillac, by contrast, sits mid pack at 17th overall, just ahead of Ford, with Buick, Chevrolet, and Chrysler further down the list. It underscores how difficult it has been for many domestic brands to match the consistency shown by their top Japanese, Korean, and German rivals, a trend reflected in recent real world reliability data.

Things look even rougher at the other end of the chart. Three of the bottom five brands are part of Stellantis, the conglomerate that includes traditional Chrysler and several European marques. Alfa Romeo, Dodge, and Jeep all score poorly, with Jeep dead last at 31st overall and Dodge at 28th. Rounding out the bottom five are GMC and Land Rover. Consumer Reports’ 2026 bottom brands are:

Alfa Romeo
Dodge
GMC
Land Rover
Jeep

For buyers drawn to rugged images or upscale badges, it is a reminder that ownership experience is about more than style and marketing. Persistent reliability issues can mean more time at the dealer and higher long term costs, something recent survey based rankings have also highlighted.

A key theme in the report is the cost of being an early adopter. New technology and fresh platforms often bring teething problems. Consumer Reports notes that reliability typically improves as a model ages, while brand new designs tend to stumble before engineers work out the bugs. That plays out in several ways. Lincoln’s Aviator and Corsair, two of its older SUVs, have seen their reliability scores improve over time. Cadillac’s new EVs, on the other hand, are winning praise for performance and luxury but struggling on reliability. Even Tesla shows a split personality, with current models performing well while 5 to 10 year old examples still rank among the least reliable vehicles of that age.

Powertrain choice is another major storyline. Conventional hybrids, which pair a gasoline engine with a modest battery and electric motor, now come out as the most trouble free setup overall. That reflects decades of refinement and the careful approach of companies like Toyota, which has treated hybrid tech as an evolution rather than a risky leap. Modern hybrids are often quieter, smoother, and more powerful than their purely gas counterparts, while using less fuel. Plug in hybrids tell a different story. Their larger batteries and more complex systems create more potential failure points, and they share some of the same charging and climate control issues seen in full EVs.

Behind the scenes, Consumer Reports builds its Automotive Brand Report Card from a huge amount of data. The organization road tests more than 200 new vehicles a year, then blends those results with owner surveys that now cover more than 380,000 vehicles, a sizable jump from the previous year. That information feeds into scores for predicted reliability, owner satisfaction, safety, and maintenance and repair costs, producing a brand level view that is harder to skew with a single hit model. The approach is similar to the brand reliability and performance tools Consumer Reports has been expanding in recent years to help shoppers see beyond individual test drives.

For shoppers, the 2026 rankings offer a clear roadmap. Brands like Subaru, Honda, Toyota, Hyundai, Acura, and Lexus prove you do not have to spend luxury money to get a well rounded, dependable vehicle, while the presence of Tesla and BMW shows that technology and performance can coexist with solid scores when the engineering has had time to mature. On the flip side, the struggles of Jeep, Land Rover, and several Stellantis and GM brands are a signal to approach carefully, especially if you plan to keep a vehicle for many years. The smart move is to treat this report as a powerful filter. Start with brands that consistently score well, decide how much cutting edge tech you really want, then get behind the wheel to find the specific model that fits your life and budget.