Like the Buick Avenir concept, Holden’s design fingerprints are all over the Chevrolet Bolt. The Bolt, a play on words from its EREV cousin the Volt, was revealed at this year’s North American International Auto Show as an electric vehicle for the masses.
By the time federal tax incentives would be taken into account, the Chevrolet Bolt is aiming for a $30,000 price point, something executives will gauge by public interest as the car is looked over by the masses. The assembly of the Bolt was lead by General Motors’ Holden design arm, where its facility is capable of machining entire concept cars from the ground up. Credit must also be given to GM South Korea, which penned the design. GM North America also had a hand.
Holden’s team of 140 designers had their hands full in designing two of the biggest debuts for General Motors at this year’s show, and the fact GM has Holden working on these ever important design studies shows a repositioning of Holden’s global influence in design.
To cap it off, the vehicle was unveiled by former Holden boss Alan Batey, a Briton who is now in charge of the Chevrolet brand globally.
When asked if this was General Motors’ rival to the Tesla electric car, Mr. Batey said, “Tesla’s average transaction price is $100,000. They’re for the rich and famous, this is for the people. I haven’t seen Tesla with anything like this in the market with this (price).”
“We’re going to gauge the reaction from today … but we’re pretty convinced this is the right vehicle at the right time,” said Mr Batey. “We would not have today come here and talked about 200 miles (range) and $30,000 if we didn’t really didn’t know how to make that happen.”
The car was a very proud moment for the Holden design team, as chief Holden designer Richard Ferlazzo expressed the enthusiasm saying, “We’ve never had two concept cars at an international motor show before,” said Mr Ferlazzo. “It’s a very big deal for us, a great compliment for Holden.”
The interesting side to the story is the uncertainness of the the Bolt ever reaching Australian shores. Batey stopped short of confirming a production version with both left and right hand drive variants, meaning Australia may miss out on a car it had a hand in crafting.
Of the 140 available designers inside Holden, 50 of them were tasked with the Chevrolet Bolt.
We’re certainly happy to hear Holden isn’t being hung out to dry, and if the Chevrolet Bolt and Buick Avenir concept are any clue, the roaring lion badge is alive and well, ready to share it’s expertise globally.
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Comments
Those guys designs are the best. They’re great.
Cool looking roof.
These vehicles were begun while Holden was still more than just a name tag.
Aveair its clearly Commodore, Caprice, Park Ave, the last gen of which was Australian.