DETROIT -- General Motors manufacturing facilities led a successful list of award recipients in the 2005 J.D. Power and Associates Initial Quality Study (IQS). In addition to taking the top three spots for manufacturing plants in North/South America, GM’s brands such as Buick, Cadillac and HUMMER performed extremely well.

"We are pleased with our J.D. Power results this year, particularly our manufacturing facilities and certainly with the strong performance of our Buick, Cadillac and HUMMER brands," said Kevin Williams, GM North America vice president -- quality. "The J.D. Power results come on the heels of the Strategic Vision Total Quality Study in which we were also called out as an industry leader. In terms of quality, this has been a great week for GM's employees, suppliers, dealers, and customers."

Superior Plant Performance GM's Oshawa 2 plant in Canada -- which produces the Buick Century, LaCrosse and Pontiac Grand Prix -- was recognized as the highest ranked in initial quality of any plant in North/South America.

GM's Oshawa 1, also in Canada, took second place, building the Chevrolet Impala and Monte Carlo.

Detroit Hamtramck, which produced the Buick LeSabre, Cadillac DeVille and Pontiac Bonneville during the survey window, placed third. Hamtramck is gearing up production of the 2006 Buick Lucerne and 2006 Cadillac DTS.

For the fourth consecutive year, GM earned at least the top two plant awards in North/South America. This year, overall, GM plants took six of the top ten spots.

Five Segment Awards GM's strong plant performance is complemented by five segment awards. Buick Century (Premium Midsize Car), Buick LeSabre (Full-Size Car), Chevrolet Malibu/Malibu Maxx (Entry Midsize Car), Chevrolet Suburban (Full-Size SUV), and GMC Sierra (Heavy-Duty Full-Size Pickup) all led their respective segments. The five awards represent GM's best-ever performance in number of awards received. In total, GM placed 12 vehicles in the top three of their segments.

GM Sweeps Highly-Competitive Premium Midsize Car Segment; Buick Century on Top In what Williams called the "the industry's most-competitive segment," GM took the top three spots in the premium midsize car category. Finishing first overall was the Buick Century, followed by the Chevrolet Impala and Pontiac Grand Prix in a tie.

Overall, the all-new Buick LaCrosse (Oshawa 2) was the highest-ranked all-new redesigned launch vehicle. Buick Century was the highest ranked vehicle built in North/South America (Oshawa 2).

Buick General Manager Steve Shannon said Buick's ranking allows his team to continue to challenge people to think differently about Buick and its quality story. "Oshawa 2 -- which is building the all-new Buick LaCrosse right now -- has been a strong plant for years and has kept Buick at the top of a number of quality rankings," he said. "This J.D. Power recognition for the plant, the Buick brand and its models is another proof point of Buick's world-class quality and the momentum we've been building for years."

HUMMER Most-Improved and Top 10 In addition to being the most-improved brand, HUMMER moved into J.D. Power's top ten brands overall with a 36 percent improvement over the previous year.

The newest HUMMER, the H3, has started production in Shreveport, LA. Initial units were shipped to dealers this week.