You may have seen our report yesterday on the upcoming debut of a new TV sitcom set at a fictional automaker. American Auto will air starting in early 2022 on NBC.
Well, that show’s writers are undoubtedly watching with keen attention what's happening with the new-generation 2022 Chevrolet Bolt. The story of its launch into the market contains enough material to feed a storyline that could stretch over a few episodes of the sitcom - although you could file it under tragedy more than farce. There have been large-scale recalls over battery issues, production has been repeatedly halted, the automaker has had to focus on fixing existing models under the recalls… and now we learn that there will be yet another delay before production restarts on the Bolt EV and EUV. The latest timeline? End of February 2022.
General Motors made the announcement on Monday.
The saga began in August with the recall of more than 140,000 units to replace battery modules after a series of fires. In early December, the company extended its production shutdown until the end of January. Sales of the models were also suspended, before restarting in limited quantities.
GM President Mark Reuss said in October that General Motors was addressing the recall before resuming production. This week, the company said that it will continue to prioritize recall-related repairs and "focus on battery module replacement”. Sales of new 2022 models have once again been halted as well.
Back in October, GM announced that its battery supply partner, South Korea's LG Electronics, had agreed to reimburse the auto giant for $2 billion in costs and expenses related to the Bolt recall.
Meanwhile, GM and LG Energy Solution are building two joint venture battery plants in the United States. Reuters reported earlier this month that GM has proposed building a $2.5 billion battery plant near Lansing with LG Energy Solution, citing documents filed with the city.
At some point, the new Bolt go back into production and will start to make its way to buyers’ homes. But all of the bumps on the road may well affect the enthusiasm of those buyers. The impact of the latest postponement will be interesting to see.
Otherwise, the irony is that 2022 Bolt is an interesting product, just like its SUV variant the Bolt EUV. But with production at a standstill, it's going to be a while before consumers can find that out.
We will continue to follow the situation closely.