Chevy Bolt to end as GM goes all-in on Ultium future

General Motors is moving fully into its electric vehicle future this year, phasing out its first mass-market model as it ramps up battery and EV production.

The automaker last week said it will discontinue both versions of the Chevrolet Bolt, built on its previous-generation battery technology, at the end of this year. The 2023 model year will be the last for the Bolt EV and EUV, and dealers will be able to order them through the summer.

Replacing the Bolt at GM's assembly plant in Orion Township, Mich., will be electric versions of the Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra full-size pickups, and CEO Mary Barra said employment at the plant will "nearly triple" in 2024 when a $4 billion overhaul is complete.

GM also plans to invest more than $3 billion in a joint venture with South Korean battery manufacturer Samsung SDI to open a U.S. battery cell plant by 2026. The companies did not disclose its location but said it will produce prismatic and cylindrical battery cells and give GM additional form factors for its EVs. GM expects to have roughly 160 gigawatt-hours of battery cell capacity in the U.S. when the plant reaches full production.

GM's partnership with Samsung follows its Ultium Cells joint venture with LG Energy Solution, which operates a battery plant in Ohio and has two under construction in Tennessee and Michigan. Talks with LG over a fourth plant reportedly broke down, leading GM to move forward with a rival battery manufacturer instead.

"Having multiple strong cell partners will allow us to expand into new segments more quickly, grow our annual EV assembly capacity in North America significantly above 1 million units and integrate cells directly into battery packs to reduce weight, complexity and cost," Barra told analysts on GM's first-quarter earnings call last week.

Sam Fiorani, vice president of global vehicle forecasting at AutoForecast Solutions, said having a dedicated platform for EVs, as GM does with Ultium, will help with profitability.

The Bolt was a "steppingstone" for GM as it moved from a traditional manufacturer of internal combustion engine vehicles to EVs, boosting its image among tech-forward car buyers, Fiorani said. But the older battery architecture prevented the Bolt from having the longer range and modern technology that GM can offer with its Ultium EVs, he added.

GM cut Bolt prices by about $6,000 last year in preparation for the 2023 launch of the Chevy Equinox EV, which will use Ultium batteries and start at about $30,000. That's less than the Bolt cost before the price cut.

"Taking the Ultium platform forward is the best plan for GM on multiple levels," Fiorani said.

GM has sold more than 161,000 Bolts in the U.S. since it was introduced in 2016. The nameplate began as a hatchback and expanded to include the larger EUV crossover in 2021.

The Bolt's sales and image were hampered by a 2021 recall linked to battery fires.

Analysts had been expecting the vehicles to eventually make way for newer EVs.

"It's just a natural progression, natural next step for us," Chevrolet CMO Steve Majoros told Automotive News.

"Bolt has been a conquest machine for us," Majoros said. "Early on, it was conquesting north of 85 percent, which means these were all brand-new people to Chevrolet. And what you find in EVs, there's a tremendous amount of brand loyalty, but it's really a propulsion decision. And so if we can bring people in based on the propulsion proposition that they're looking for, we can do it with a brand that they're familiar with, with brand names they're familiar with, that works well for us."

GM plans to start making the Silverado EV this year at the Detroit plant it calls Factory Zero, in addition to the plan for it to be built at Orion. Shifting the Orion plant to Silverados and Sierras from Bolts will allow the company to make as many as 600,000 electric pickups annually.

In North America, GM said it plans to build about 50,000 EVs in the first half of this year and 100,000 in the second half. The company said it's on track to meet its goal of building a total of 400,000 EVs from 2022 through the first half of 2024. It aims to have capacity to produce 1 million EVs a year by 2025.

The automaker said at its investor day in November that it expects low- to mid-single-digit margins on EVs by mid-decade and EV revenue topping $50 billion in 2025.

Production of its early Ultium-based EVs, including the Cadillac Lyriq midsize crossover and GMC Hummer EV pickup, has been slower to ramp up, though brand leaders have said volumes intentionally started low and are expected to increase this year.

GM sold more than 20,000 EVs in the first quarter, led by the Bolt, while Lyriq sales rose to 968 in the first quarter after achieving 122 in all of 2022. Barra told analysts that GM has built more than 2,000 Lyriqs to date this year.