[Car Talk Forest] "Cadillac Cars to Be Repaired at Chevrolet Direct Service Centers"... What Does It Mean?

Chevrolet Direct Service Centers Increased by 9, Expanding Cadillac Maintenance Centers to 26 Locations

Kaher Kazem, President of Korea GM (Photo by Korea GM)

[Asia Economy Reporter Jihee Kim] Recently, an interesting story emerged during the Korean GM union's training camp. It was a remark made by Marcus Sternberg, Executive Director of Customer Care and After Sales (CCA) at Korean GM, who attended to explain the current management status of the company. He began by saying, "Our goal is to break even this year," and then announced, "We will allow Cadillac vehicles, which had their maintenance decisions delayed at the leadership level, to be serviced at Chevrolet direct service centers."

Marcus's statement means that Cadillac vehicles, which had been repaired through 17 Cadillac service centers nationwide, will now also be able to use Chevrolet direct service centers. Currently, Chevrolet's service network is broadly divided into three levels: direct service, partner service, and quick service. Among these, there are nine direct service centers nationwide. This means that the number of service centers available to Cadillac vehicles will expand to about 26.

This is expected to be quite good news for Cadillac owners. In fact, in online communities where Cadillac owners gather, it is not uncommon to find complaints such as, "When I went to the service center for repairs after an accident, they said it would take more than a week." Going forward, Cadillac vehicles will be able to receive maintenance more quickly and at more reliable locations.

Korean GM has stated that since the closure of the Gunsan plant in 2018, it has been considering various cost-cutting and profitability improvement measures as part of its efforts to normalize management. In particular, since Cadillac is a brand within GM, just like Chevrolet, synergy effects are expected. The plan to share direct service centers appears to be an extension of these considerations.

In fact, if Cadillac vehicles can use Chevrolet direct service centers, it would also be beneficial for the Korean GM union's maintenance and parts branch. This branch has recently been in a tense confrontation with management over the closure of the Changwon and Jeju parts logistics centers. The union views this as the beginning of restructuring and has expressed employment insecurity. Some analysts suggest that this plan, which implies an increase in workload, might be management's attempt to somewhat soothe the union's concerns.

However, there are several issues that need to be proactively resolved to realize this plan. Since Cadillac is a premium brand, if the quality of service is made identical to Chevrolet's, it could affect the brand image. In fact, several years ago, Korean GM displayed Cadillac and Chevrolet models together in some large showrooms. Even then, they took measures such as separating the display floors or creating separate display zones to prevent the two brand images from mixing. Additionally, since there are differences in points to be noted during the maintenance process of Cadillac and Chevrolet vehicles, related discussions including maintenance training need to be conducted from multiple perspectives. For now, Marcus, who brought this topic to the surface, stated, "Specific procedures and processes will be decided through labor-management consultations."