Detroit Three automakers again struggled compared to their Asian competition in Consumer Reports' annual brand reliability rankings.

Toyota, Subaru, Lexus and Honda took the top four spots in this year's new car rankings released Thursday. BMW slotted in fifth as the top European automaker.

At the bottom were Chrysler, GMC, Jeep and Ram, with electric vehicle maker Rivian taking the last-place spot, at No. 26.

There were a few bright spots for the traditional American brands: Buick slotted in at No. 8 and Ford at No. 11, with both making gains from last year and now firmly in the top half of all brands ranked. Chevrolet and Cadillac were No. 17 and 18, respectively, with Lincoln at No. 20.

Ford, which has long dealt with quality challenges and recently a costly string of recalls, said the ranking shows it's now headed in the right direction, with the highest Consumer Reports reliability ranking in 15 years. The result "confirms what we're seeing in our data" that quality is improving, a statement from spokesperson Mike Levine said.

The rankings, out annually, were based this year on data submitted by Consumer Reports members for 380,000 individual vehicles.

The organization also released several other rankings Thursday, including brand owner satisfaction and road-test rating ranking. Then they combined them together into one overall brand ranking that also includes safety assessments. Subaru took the top award in that overall ranking, with Jeep in last place.

Consumer Reports experts, in a presentation with the Automotive Press Association on Thursday, noted that EVs and plug-in hybrids continue to create problems for their owners, though other hybrid models without plugs are considered generally highly reliable — even generating better rankings than purely gas-powered cars.

Steven Elek, Consumer Reports' data analytics program leader, said that's in large part because plug-in powertrains haven't been around as long.

"The general trend of what we're seeing is, the longer a technology has been around, and the more time automakers have to work out the kinks, they get more reliable," he said. "Whereas, the newer technologies, like plug-in hybrids and EVs, they're still working on that."

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