GM Korea begins mass production of Trax crossover

General Motors Korea announced on Sunday that it celebrated the start of mass production of the Chevrolet Trax Crossover, a new utility vehicle, at its Changwon plant on Feb. 24.

GM Korea Chief Executive Roberto Rempel expressed his satisfaction with the mass production of the Trax crossover, one of the company's flagship models, especially amid the COVID-19 crisis at the ceremony. He added that GM's focus is on producing high-quality vehicles based on customer-first values.

Since its local release in Oct. 2022, the Trax crossover has been a crucial model for the sustainability of South Korean workplaces and has attracted significant attention. For its production, GM Korea invested 900 billion won ($684 million) in production facilities in the painting, press, body and assembly plants at the Changwon works.

This investment resulted in a production capacity of 60 units per hour, up to 280,000 units per year, and a system for running a two-shift schedule was established at the end of last year by agreeing with the labor union on workforce assignment.

GM is currently running factory evaluation systems such as the global manufacturing system (GMS) and built-in quality (BIQ) for its assembly plants worldwide, and its Changwon plant has acquired BIQ Level 4.

According to a GM Korea official, the company plans to preemptively mass-produce the North American Trax crossover model in response to high overseas market demand and launch it in the domestic market in the first quarter of this year under the name Chevrolet Trax Crossover.

Write to Hyung-Kyu Kim at khk@hankyung.com