Sometimes, a quarterly earnings conference call isn’t just filled with drab numbers. Today, the CEO and chair of General Motors, Mary Barra, announced during her company’s own call that Chevrolet will introduce a next-generation Bolt EV.
Since it was introduced in 2017, the Bolt – both the EV and EUV variants – have become popular because of their relatively low prices (starting under $42,000 here in Canada). But after 38,120 Bolt sales in 2022, Chevrolet announced in April that the current versions would be discontinued, so the company could focus on trucks and SUVs.
2022 Chevrolet BoltE UV-008
Barra revealed today the next-gen Bolt will be built on the brand’s Ultium platform, and it will come earlier than you might expect.
“We will keep the momentum going by delivering a new Bolt and we will execute it more quickly compared to an all-new program with significantly lower engineering expense and capital investment by updating the vehicle with Ultium and Ultifi technologies and by applying our winning with simplicity discipline,” said Barra.
No other details were announced during the call.
2022 Chevrolet Bolt EV
The Bolt has been – and will be – an important part of GM’s EV strategy, which includes a host of upcoming EVs including the Silverado EV, Equinox EV and Blazer EV. More than 70 per cent of Bolt buyers are coming from a non-GM product, making Bolt one of the highest conquest vehicles in the Chevrolet portfolio.
The automaker plans to build 400,000 EVs in North America from 2022 through mid-2024 and increase capacity to one million units annually in North America in 2025.
