General Motors started with a slow rollout of the Chevrolet Bolt EV, but the electric car is now available nationwide and in some global markets, resulting in the automaker planning to increase production of the electric car. CEO Mary Barra announced in her remarks at the CERAWeek energy conference on Wednesday that the GM Orion plant in Michigan will soon build even more units of the small electric car.
The automaker didn’t provide specifics on the increased output, but Barra did say the production increase will happen later this year. Last year, we know Chevrolet sold 23,297 Bolt EVs in total, shy of LG Chem’s 30,000-unit prediction for its first full year on sale (see historic Bolt EV sales numbers). Those numbers, however, reflect limited availability of Bolt EV, since it only became available nationwide in the U.S. in summer of 2017.
“Increased Bolt EV production benefits our customers around the world, our dealers and our employees, who are proud to build an affordable, ground-breaking vehicle that our customers love,” Barra said of Bolt EV production at the conference.
Aside from the increased Bolt production, we may also see a Buick version of the Bolt EV this year. GM previously said it has two new battery-electric cars coming in about a year, and rumors point to a Buick EV based on the Bolt EV.
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Hopefully it’s a Buick CUV around the size of the Envision. Though if that were the case it would likely come pretty well equipped and have a minimum $45k price tag
GM proclaimed roughly six months ago, 20 EVs by 2023 with two coming out in the next 18 months utilizing the Bolt EV’s powertrain…An EV insider attended a focus group where they were introduced to the subcompact Buick Encore EV…
It should be noted that 23,297 figure was US sales, during this very conference said: “And Barra pushed for more discussions on renewable energy sources, especially as electric cars plug into the electricity grid around the world. Coal still provides 30 percent of electricity in the U.S. and 65 percent in China”
Beyond a few CA dealership fire sales where after all local/state incentives you could essentially lease a Bolt EV for $0 down and $100/mo, US demand has been low while GLOBAL demand has been high, particularly in Canada and South Korea…
This is great news, and it also is another slap in the fact against those Tesla fanboys who claims GM built the Bolt as a “compliance car” and “no intention to ramp up production”.
If the Bolt can scale faster than the Model 3, Tesla would be a laughingstock by end 2018.