Component Defects
GM Korea decided to temporarily halt the production of its all-new Chevrolet Cruze compact sedan after discovering a possible defect in components. Accordingly, the delivery to customers will be delayed for a month. The Korean unit of the U.S. auto giant said, “It is the decision for customers,” but market watchers say that the company needs to re-check its quality management system.
The automaker announced on Feb. 28 that it will temporarily stopped the production of the all-new Cruze and delay the delivery to customers to March. It said, “President James Kim made such decision to deliver a flawless product to consumers.” It is the unprecedented move for automakers to delay the delivery to customers due to quality problems after the launch of new models.
On Feb. 6, GM Korea began the mass-production of the compact sedan at its plant in Gunsan, North Jeolla Province. But three days later, the carmaker stopped the production after detecting a defect in components. At that time, it said, “There is no serious problems and we will deliver the product to customers at the end of Feb. as planned.” However, GM Korea decided to re-examine the quality after pre-orders, which reached 2,000 units since the launch on Jan. 17, showed a decrease due to the quality issues. The delivery will be delayed for more than a month after re-checking the overall quality.
An official from the industry said, “As GM Korea, which produces and sells 600,000 cars a year, failed to manage the quality of new models, the company needs to re-examine the production process of other models as well.”