Chinese car makers have narrowed the quality gap with their foreign rivals in the world's largest vehicle market to the smallest level in seven years, according to research. But the improvements have not been enough to see an obvious drop in the market share for local car companies this year, raising questions about their ability to be global competitors. The annual quality survey of China's car market by J.D. Power, a Californian market research company, tracks the number of mechanical and design problems reported per 100 vehicles by more than 21,000 Chinese drivers. It documented 131 problems per 100 domestic  vehicles, compared with 95 per 100 foreign vehicles. The 36-point gap was the narrowest in the study's seven-year history. When China overtook the US as the world's largest car maker in the 2009, the gap between domestic and foreign cars was 145 points. "It's evidence to the improvements that domestic brands have been making," said Geoff Broderick, head of J.D. Power's operations. "By 2018 the domestic and the global brands will be equal in terms of quality." Despite the steady improvement in quality, local vehicle makers have been performing poorly this year. According to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, domestic brand's share of the market for cars--not including SUVs--has fallen from about 25 percent to 20 percent. "Chinese customers are very picky in the world because they have been trained to distrust products," said Mr Broderick, citing scandals  affecting baby milk powder and toys. "They go into a situation expecting there could be quality issues, whereas in the West we trust the brands. J.D. Power is   _  .
a name of a company a car maker a head of an association a milk brand