GM to stop Chevy Bolt production after this year, focus on EV trucks instead

April 25 (UPI) -- General Motors announced Tuesday it will stop making its popular Chevy Bolt electric vehicles by the end of the year.

GM CEO Mary Barra said the company would shift production at its Orion Assembly plant in Michigan to making the 2024 Silverado EV pickup next year. This year, the company expects to produce more than 70,000 Bolts.

"We have progressed so far that it's now time to plan to end the Chevrolet Bolt EV and EUV production, which will happen at the very end of the year," Barra said, according to The Detroit News. "When Orion EV Assembly reopens in 2024 and reaches full production, employment will nearly triple and we'll have a companywide capacity to build 600,000 electric trucks annually."

GM expects to produce more than one million EVs in 2025, as it plans to produce the Silverado EV at three different plants in Michigan. The automakers first started producing the Bolt in 2016. However, the company has had to issue several recalls due to fire issues. After a price drop, the Bolt's sales increased 54 times during the first quarter of 2023.

"When the Chevrolet Bolt EV launched, it was a huge technical achievement and the first affordable EV, which set in motion GM's all-electric future," Chevy spokesperson Chad Lyons said, according to The Detroit News.

Also on Tuesday, GM and Samsung announced plans to invest more than $3 billion to build a new plant in the United States that will make batteries for electric vehicles.

GM and Samsung SDI agreed to a 2026 target year for the start of operations at a site that's yet to be determined. Both sides, however, said the number of new jobs for construction and operations will be in the thousands.

"It is a great pleasure to take the very first step to create a long-term industry-leading partnership with GM in the U.S. electric car market," said Samsung SDI President and CEO Yoon-ho Choi.