The Chevrolet Bolt isn’t going away after all.
General Motors announced on Tuesday that the automaker would launch a next-generation, Ultium-based Bolt. Details on the updated electric vehicle were limited, and the company didn’t say where it would be built.
However, the automaker said the Bolt would return to market on “an accelerated timeline.” The company said previously it would stop production of the vehicle at its current home by year’s end.
CEO Mary Barra highlighted the demand for the current vehicle and the ability to capitalize on affordability.
“This is a very capital-efficient, quick way to build on the strong consumer response we have to the Bolt and get an affordable vehicle out into the marketplace,” Barra said, during a conference call with analysts to go over the automaker’s second-quarter earnings report.
That speedier return to market for the EV will be helped along because it will be an update, with Barra noting in a news release that “we will execute it more quickly compared to an all-new program with significantly lower engineering expense and capital investment by updating the vehicle with Ultium and Ultifi technologies.”
Three months ago, Barra told analysts that the automaker would stop production of Bolts at the Orion Assembly plant in Orion Township to focus on production of the 2024 Silverado EV pickup. The company said it expects to produce more than 70,000 Bolts for global sales in 2023.
The company touted the original Bolt in its release as “the first long-range, mass-produced EV available to customers at a truly affordable price” from its market introduction in 2017.
The current, second-generation version of the Bolt EV is powered by the automaker’s BEV2 platform, which stands for battery electric vehicle. The company’s next slate of EVs, including the Silverado, will be powered by the proprietary Ultium battery propulsion system.
The Bolt has been selling briskly. GM reported that Bolt and Bolt EUV sales more than doubled in the second quarter to 13,959, from 6,945 during the same period in 2022.
The Bolt figured prominently in the second-quarter earnings report. The automaker announced that in addition to plans for a next generation vehicle, it would take an almost $800 million charge connected to the Bolt recall, which stemmed from a potential fire risk. The next-generation Bolts, however, will be based on new technology.
More:GM reports $2.5B in net income, boosts guidance, but takes hit from Bolt recall
Sam Fiorani, vice president of global vehicle forecasting for AutoForecast Solutions, said competition in the EV market is growing fierce and automakers will need to spread out into lower-priced areas as the higher-end is becoming saturated.
GM, with its eye on Tesla, will want to have less expensive products available to compete, and with starting prices announced earlier this year for the 2023 versions of less than $28,000 for the Bolt and $29,000 for the Bolt EUV, the next-generation Bolt is likely to offer that.
“Tesla is threatening to introduce a model below the Model 3, which already starts under $40,000. If GM doesn’t have a similarly priced product, Tesla, or another EV maker, could lure those entry-level buyers away. Once those potential buyers have been lost to the competition, winning them back is a very costly endeavor,” Fiorani said.
“By the end of the decade, full-line manufacturers like GM will need to have EVs to fill the segments currently occupied by models like the Chevrolet Trax. GM’s bread-and-butter has always been a vehicle for all wallets and ceding entry-level buyers to a rival could break the chain that leads to high-profit models like full-sized pickups and Cadillacs.”
Jamie L. LaReau contributed to this report. Contact Eric D. Lawrence: elawrence@freepress.com.