Oh hey, a new Chevy Bolt is coming after all

This news reeks of a mea culpa. General Motors boss Mary Barra confirmed this week that a second-generation Chevrolet Bolt EV will arrive in the soon-ish future, contradicting an announcement from April saying the Bolt EV and larger Bolt EUV would be killed off – a decision many considered to be short-sighted, especially since the Bolt posted record sales numbers in 2022.

“Our customers love today’s Bolt,” Barra said, stating the obvious. “It has been delivering record sales and some of the highest customer satisfaction and loyalty scores in the industry. It’s also an important source of conquest sales for the company and for Chevrolet.”

Barra said the new Bolt EV will use GM’s Ultium electric vehicle technology, which currently supports everything from the gargantuan GMC Hummer EV to upcoming – and more civilized – products like the Blazer EV and Equinox EV. Using the Ultium architecture “will help GM bring this popular model back to market on an accelerated timeline,” the company said in a statement, which sure sounds like an admittance of a mistake.

The Bolt's popularity stemmed from the fact that it was always one of the cheapest EVs on sale in the US, and price cuts for 2023 saw the hatchback's price drop to an incredibly attractive $27,495 before factoring in any federal tax incentives. The puffed-up Bolt EUV joined the lineup in 2021, offering slightly more passenger space and packing GM’s outstanding Super Cruise hands-free highway driving assist tech.

However, later that year, General Motors announced a massive recall due to potential battery fires that eventually expanded to cover every single Bolt EV and Bolt EUV the company built since launching the EV in late 2016. Definitely not a good look, and this recall could have proven to be the death of the Bolt. Attractive pricing, packaging, and range figures saw the Bolt bounce back. Like, big time.

“Sales of Bolt EV and Bolt EUV through the first half of 2023 have been the strongest to date,” GM said. Hey, completely unrelated: you guys remember that 2000 earworm Hate To Say I Told You So?

Right now, it’s unclear when the new Bolt EV will launch, or where it’ll be built, since the current vehicle’s Orion Assembly plant is being retooled to support production of electric pickup trucks like the new Chevy Silverado EV. It also remains to be seen if both the standard Bolt EV and big-brother Bolt EUV will make a comeback, but if the company is going to reboot one, it sure makes sense to bring back the pair. Surely GM won’t want to screw this one up.