GM to expand Chevy Bolt EV availability to new markets

General Motors plans to expand availability of the Chevrolet Bolt EV to new markets, said Pam Fletcher, vice president of the automaker's global electric vehicle programs.

Fletcher, speaking Wednesday at Citi's 2018 Global Technology Conference, said GM will announce more global markets for the full-electric hatchback "in the not-so-distant future."

"We see demand increasing in markets we're already in and we've seen new markets around the globe that we didn't originally plan to have the Bolt in asking for it," she said. "And so, we'll be announcing some of these additional markets, here, in the not-so-distant future."

The Bolt is sold in the U.S., Mexico, Canada, South Korea and United Arab Emirates, according to GM. The company, citing last year's sale of its European operations to PSA Group, declined to provide details about where the vehicle is sold under its former Opel and Vauxhall brands in Europe.

The market expansion follows GM's decision to increase output of the Bolt EV by 20 percent this year at the automaker's Orion Assembly plant in suburban Detroit.

Since it went on sale in December 2016, GM has sold more than 30,000 Bolt EVs in the U.S. But domestic deliveries have dropped an estimated 13 percent this year, according to the Automotive News Data Center.