Production For The Chevy Bolt EV and EUV Is Ending Later This Year

GM CEO Mary Barra has announced today during an investor call that production of the Chevy Bolt EV and Bolt EUV will come to a permanent halt by the end of 2023. General Motors decided to kill off the small EVs in favor of its upcoming Ultium-based electric pickups, which will be assembled at the Orion plant that the Bolt currently calls home. When production ends later this year, the plant will be retooled to accomodate the battery-powered trucks when they arrive in 2024.

While GM spent years playing around with the idea of an EV, the Bolt hatchback's arrival for the 2017 model year represented the automaker's first real foray into the electric vehicle game. It was powered by a 60.0-kWh battery at launch, with an estimated range of 238 miles, which was a considerable amount of range at the time. As more competent offerings came to market around 2020, Chevy gave the Bolt an upgraded battery pack that bumped range up to 259 miles, along with a significant styling refresh in 2022. The latter update also brought the introduction of the Bolt EUV, a small crossover that transformed the regular Bolt hatchback into a more popular SUV body style.

Things took a slight turn for the worse in 2021 when a large number of Bolts were repeatedly recalled due to fires related to battery flaws. While sales dipped around that time period, Chevy cut prices of both the EV and EUV to below $30,000, which effectively saw an increase in sales. But regardless of the battery ordeal and price cuts, the Bolt never reached GM's overall expectations in terms of sales, managing to move just about 20,000 units each year. For comparison, Tesla sold over 240,000 Model 3 sedans last year.

On the bright side, last year saw the highest number of Bolt sales so far with a total of 38,120 units sold. This year is expected to really end things with a bang, as 19,700 Bolts were sold in the first quarter alone. While it may sound irrational to cut the cord on the Bolt as sales begin to rise, its older battery tech is starting to show its age compared to the Ultium platform that all of GM's newer EVs are based on, and the diminutive footprints of both Bolt models didn't quite meet the needs of U.S. shoppers.

The Bolt won't see any direct successors, though the position of cheapest EV will be handed over to the Chevy Equinox EV when it launches later in 2023, with a base price of just over $30,000. As for the Orion plant, GM says it will have the ability to produce 600,000 electric trucks annually, starting with the Chevy Silverado EV later this year and the GMC Sierra EV in 2024.

Will you miss the Bolt, or do you think it's about time for it to go?

Image Credits: Chevrolet