Gallery: Go Inside the Lab Where GM Tears Apart Its Competitors' Cars
GM01GM teardown room
The teardown lab at GM's Vehicle Engineering Center has almost a dozen individual bays where competitor and GM vehicles like can be carefully disassembled, analyzed, and reverse engineered.
GM02GM teardown room
This computer-aided design (CAD) image has the hood and rear driver's side door added to the previous one. Within the CAD system, vehicles can be rotated to examine them from multiple angles, with parts including windshield wipers, suspension springs and full tire assemblies included for visualization and analysis.
GM03GM teardown room
The frame of a Dodge Ram 3500 Heavy Duty pickup sits on a lift, with already removed parts beneath. A right-hand drive Honda CRV, in the process of being disassembled, sits in the background.
GM04GM teardown room
The lab isn’t all about destruction. GM prototypes are built and tested here during the design process. The goal is to make sure everything comes together properly. This replica of a chain was 3D printed and will be used for fit-testing.
GM05GM teardown room
With a huge collection of lathes, presses, welding benches and computer-controlled water cutters, GM workers are able to build an entire vehicle prototype from scratch.
GM06GM teardown room
Inside the lab's machining workshop, parts can be crafted out of a variety of materials for protyping and testing.
GM07GM teardown room
This computer-controlled cutting system uses extremely high-pressure water mixed with tiny pieces of garnet to cut through metal as if it were as soft as angel food cake.
GM08GM teardown room
This piece of aluminum was precision carved by the water-cutting machine. Notice the small slit on the left where the water jet began its incision.
