General Motors has walked back on plans to retire the Chevrolet Bolt.
Three months after the automaker warned that it would end production of the popular electric vehicle by the end of the year, GM CEO Mary Barra on Tuesday revealed that the company is keeping the nameplate alive.
“Our customers love today’s Bolt,” Barra said during a Tuesday earnings call. It has “some of the highest customer satisfaction and loyalty scores in the industry.”
The decision comes after the Bolt – which went through a massive recall in 2021 due to battery fire risks – hit record sales in the first quarter.
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Barra said the updated Bolt EV and EUV will be built with technology from GM’s new Ultium battery platform, which allows a lower center of gravity in vehicles for a more “sporty, responsive” vehicle, according to GM’s website.
The newer models will also include technologies from the automaker’s new Ultifi software platform, which allows over-the-air software updates and opens doors to in-car subscription services.
“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. “We are definitely leveraging that (Ultium) technology because that’s going to really help us get costs down.”
She added that GM plans to share more details on the vehicle “soon.”
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Record sales for the Chevrolet Bolt
The revival comes after GM was charged $792 million in connection to a Bolt recall that affected about 142,000 vehicles sold through 2021.
Despite the recalls, Barra noted that the company “can’t build enough Bolts right now” due to strong demand.
The company sold record Bolts in the first quarter after price cuts last year, and Bolt EV and Bolt EUV sales more than doubled in the second quarter to 13,959 from 6,945 a year prior.
