Chevrolet’s Built-in Quality Ensures Hardworking, Off-road Readiness for Trailblazer Customers
20 MAY 2014 – The rugged Trailblazer, which is built on Chevrolet’s body-on-frame bakkie architecture, is tailor-made to meet the needs of users who battle more than just traffic jams. Manufactured at GM’s Rayong Plant in Thailand, the Trailblazer has been built to last in the most challenging operational environments.
Build quality for SUVs which promise as much as the Trailblazer must be beyond reproach to enable them to perform reliably over long periods of time. One of the enablers is the assembly process at GM’s world-class manufacturing plant in Rayong, Thailand, where quality is built in by design.
“A vehicle starts to age the moment the customer takes delivery,” said Paiboon Yodsowan, director of General Assembly at General Motors Thailand. “How it ages depends on weather, road conditions, driving style and maintenance, among other variables. Those are parameters we cannot control.”
He added, “What we can control is building vehicles of the highest quality by controlling the build process. This is what GM calls ‘built-in quality.’ It means that quality is built into our vehicles, not inspected in. By controlling the process, we control the product and quality.”
Each shop in GM’s facility in Rayong – Press, Body, Paint and General Assembly (GA) – has its own quality pillar that governs processes specific to the particular shop. This ensures a truly controlled build process and allows quality to be continuously built in.
For example, in GA team members assemble everything from engines, wiring harnesses, electrical components, suspensions, wheels and brakes, to switches, trims, pipes, fluids, dashboards and seats. It is also where the bodies of the Trailblazer are fitted onto their sturdy frame chassis.
A casual observer may not see the quality pillars in action. The fact is, each turn of a bolt, each pour of fluid into a tank and each fitting are processes that have been developed to prevent problems. They are based on quality pillars relevant to the process. Therefore, work in GA goes beyond just making sure that each bolt is fastened properly.
Quality pillars in GA include torque, fluids, leak, fitting, electrical, mechanical and mutilation. Torque is an important pillar for ensuring components are fastened so that they do not detach, disintegrate or fail due to vibration, heat or other operational stress.
But it is not just a case of fastening a nut as tight as possible. Torque refers to the rotational force used on any particular nut or screw and is important because too much force (over tightening) may damage bolt threads, while too little force (under tightening) may result in noise and the detachment of components. Each drill, gun and machine has properly calibrated torque outputs to ensure every nut and screw is tightened correctly.
Export variants of the Trailblazer are subjected to the same grueling quality processes. The Chevrolet Trailblazer is sold in South Africa with a standard 5-year/ 120 000 km warranty, a clear indication of the confidence the company has on the build quality of this vehicle. Such a warranty is possible because of the high level of built-in quality.
In addition, Chevrolet Trailblazer service intervals for the 2.8 and 2.5 diesel models are 15 000 km, 5 000 km more than some diesel engine competitors in this segment because of the unique technology of the models’ second-generation Duramax turbo-diesel engine. The 2.8L Duramax Diesel boasts 500 Nm of torque and 144 kW, while the 2.5L diesel variant produces 380 Nm of torque and 120kW.
With the 2014 Trailblazer Chevrolet continues to demonstrate its SUV prowess through exacting quality standards and dependable off-road capability.
How much does the new Chevrolet Trailblazer Cost in South Africa?
2014 Chevrolet Trailblazer model range and pricing (incl. VAT)
- Trailblazer 2.5D LT 4×2 MT – R 386 500.00
- Trailblazer 2.8D LTZ 4×2 AT – R 456 400.00
- Trailblazer 2.8D LTZ 4×4 MT – R 489 800.00
- Trailblazer 2.8D LTZ 4×4 AT – R 506 400.00
- Trailblazer 3.6 LTZ 4×4 AT – R 516 700.00
All Chevrolet Trailblazer models come standard with a 5-year/ 120 000 km warranty and roadside assistance package, as well as a 5-year/ 90 000 km service plan, with service intervals scheduled every 15 000 km.