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DETROIT – General Motors will end production of its popular Chevrolet Bolt and Bolt EUV electric vehicles at the end of the year.
CEO Mary Barra told Wall Street analysts Tuesday that the automaker will stop production of the vehicles at Orion Assembly plant in Michigan and starting next year will dedicate production there to the 2024 Silverado EV pickup.
Barra said the move will give GM the ability to build 600,000 electric trucks annually when its plants reach full capacity. The Silverado EV will also be made at Factory Zero in Detroit and Hamtramck, which also builds the GMC Hummer EV and SUV.
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Analyst Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities applauded the move saying, “GM is ripping the Band-Aid off on the Bolt and betting on the future of EVs around the Lyriq, Hummer, Blazer, Silverado and other parts of its transformation. The EV baton is being handed to the future of GM. It’s a smart move.”
The UAW did not immediately respond to a request for a comment on the news.
The Detroit Free Press, part of the USA TODAY Network, was first to report in July 2022 that the Bolt, GM’s most affordable and accessible EV, would at some point disappear from the lineup. The Bolt EVs are powered by the automaker’s BEV2 platform, which stands for battery electric vehicle. GM’s upcoming EVs, including the Silverado EV, will be powered by its proprietary Ultium battery propulsion system.
GM has said the Equinox EV, due out later this year, is expected to start at about $30,000, making it one of the most affordable EVs GM offers. The 2023 Bolt EV starts at $26,595 and the EUV, $28,195.
Last year, GM said it would invest $4 billion to retool Orion Assembly to build the Silverado EV on the Ultium platform. At the time GM said the expansion would create or retain an estimated 2,000 jobs. GM currently employs 1,270 hourly and salaried employees at Orion, said Chevrolet spokesman Kevin Kelly.
“When the Chevrolet Bolt EV launched, it was a huge technical achievement and the first affordable EV, which set in motion GM’s all-electric future,” Kelly added.
For the first quarter of 2023, GM sold 20,670 EVs, 19,700 of which were the Bolt and Bolt EUV.
Contact Jamie L. LaReau at jlareau@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan. Read more on General Motors and sign up for our autos newsletter. Become a subscriber.
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