At the end of the year, General Motors will stop making its well-liked Chevrolet Bolt and Bolt EUV electric automobiles.
The 2024 Silverado EV pickup will begin production at the Orion Assembly plant in Michigan starting in 2019, according to CEO Mary Barra in a statement to Wall Street analysts on Tuesday.
Barra claimed that once the company’s plants are operating at full capacity, the move will allow GM to produce 600,000 electrified trucks yearly. The Factory Zero in Detroit and Hamtramck, which currently manufactures the GMC Hummer EV and SUV, will also produce the Silverado EV.
Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives praised the decision, stating, “GM is pulling off the Band-Aid on the Bolt and wagering on the future of EVs around the Lyriq, Hummer, Blazer, Silverado and other components of its reinvention. The future of GM is receiving the EV baton. It’s a wise decision.
A request for comment on the report was not immediately answered by the UAW.
The Bolt, GM’s most accessible and affordable EV, would eventually be phased out of the lineup, according to a July 2022 story from The Detroit Free Press, a member of the USA TODAY Network. The automaker’s BEV2 platform, which stands for battery electric vehicle, powers the Bolt EVs. Future electric vehicles from GM, like the Silverado EV, will run on the company’s own Ultium battery propulsion system.
The Equinox EV, which is slated to go on sale later this year, will likely start at around $30,000, making it one of GM’s most cost-effective EVs. Starting at $26,595 for the 2023 Bolt EV and $28,195 for the EUV.
In order to produce the Silverado EV on the Ultium platform, GM announced last year that it would invest $4 billion to retool Orion Assembly. The expansion, according to GM at the time, would generate or keep around 2,000 employment. According to Kevin Kelly, a spokesman for Chevrolet, GM presently employs 1,270 hourly and salaried staff members in Orion.
The introduction of the Chevrolet Bolt EV, which was the first cheap EV and a significant technical achievement, began GM’s all-electric future, Kelly continued.
GM sold 20,670 EVs during the first quarter of 2023, of which 19,700 were Bolt and Bolt EUV models.
