There's good news for shareholders of General Motors - yup, that means all of us - in this afternoon's release of Consumer Reports' closely watched annual survey of auto reliability.  The nonprofit magazine says: "Eighty-three percent of Chevrolets, GM’s major brand, now have average or better scores in predicted reliability, up from 50 percent last year."

CR offered the results, first presented to auto writers at a Detroit luncheon, with a little glass-half-full spin. GM, it said, "has improved considerably, though Honda and Toyota still dominate" in the reliability ratings, which are derived from reports by owners of 1.3 million vehicles.

Chevrolet was GM's top nameplate, and ranked 17th overall - behind 10th-place Ford, the only U.S. automaker to crack the top 10. The other top 10, in order, are Scion, Porsche, Acura, Hinda, Infiniti, Toyota, Subaru, Volvo and Lexus.

CR summed it up: "As a company, GM is still a ways from the top when it comes to reliability — the major Asian automakers, including Honda and Toyota, are still out in front. Among the three domestics, Ford continues to build the most reliable vehicles. Chrysler lags behind both GM and Ford."

The magazine said GM had climbed in a different manner than Ford, which now outscores Mazda and Nissan and ranks right behind Lexus. David Champion, senior director of Consumer Reports Auto Test Center, said GM has risen thanks in part to some well-regarded new designs, such as that of its Chevrolet Camaro and Equinox, its Buick LaCrosse V6 (FWD), and its Cadillac SRX, and also thanks to dropping many of its below-average models.

By contrast, he said, "Ford has put its emphasis on fine-tuning existing platforms and limiting the number of new-model introductions.”

Click here for links to the CR survey, though be warned that much it is behind a pay wall. One thing to keep in mind is that, as always, many brands show wide variations in reliability among models.  For instance, Porsche's Boxter ranks highly but its 911 is below average. Among the leading brands, top-ranked models included the Scion xD, Honda CR-V, Toyota Yaris, Subaru Legacy (4-cylinder), and the Ford Flex (EcoBoost).

One more bit of good news for U.S. automakers probably merits a little Schadenfreude, the German word for pleasure in others' misfortune. German brands such as Audi, BMW and even Mercedes-Benz ranked near the bottom in reliability.  Aside from the high-flying Porsche, the best German brand was Volkswagen, which ranked 16th and dead average in the reliability rankings.

Of course, that put VW a tick ahead of Chevrolet. Sometimes, it's all in the spin.