Detroit — General Motors Co. for two weeks will halt production of Chevrolet Bolt EVs and Bolt EUVs at its Orion Assembly plant following an expanded recall of the battery-electric vehicles last week.
The automaker sent out an alert to employees Thursday stating it would keep the Orion plant down the weeks of Aug. 30 and Sept. 6 “as a result of a battery pack shortage” related to the Bolt EV/EUV recall. The plant is down this week because of the global semiconductor shortage affecting all automakers.
“We expect to resume production the week of Sept. 13 and will notify employees when this is confirmed,” the alert said.
GM spokesman Dan Flores in a statement confirmed the downtime for Orion, adding: “We will continue to evaluate additional production schedule adjustments.”
The Detroit automaker last week expanded the Bolt recall to include 73,018 vehicles from model years 2019-2022 for “rare” battery defects that could cause the fires.
The recall now covers all Bolts made — 141,685 vehicles — and is expected to cost $1.8 billion. A total of 10 fires have been confirmed by the automaker. No deaths were reported, but there have been some smoke inhalation injuries.
khall@detroitnews.com
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