Chevy Bolt EV and its bigger sibling the Bolt EUV had a terrible time a few months ago when reports of the two models catching fire went viral. General Motors, parent company of Chevrolet issued multiple warnings to owners to charge the cars outside (not in indoor garages) and even to park the cars away from others in public lots. But despite all this, General Motors (GM) , fixed the exploding battery issue and wants to relaunch the vehicle again.
U.S. safety regulators said they had reviewed reports of 24 Bolt fires, while GM had previously acknowledged 18 fires. The situation led to recalling each and every Bolt vehicle that had been produced at their Michigan factory since 2016. LG Chem, now called LG Energy Solutions, had provided the faulty batteries and it covered the $ 2 billion cost of replacing them. As a bonus, LG used higher capacity batteries during the replacement which earned Bolt owners about 10 – 15 % more range and even greater percentage in older vehicles from 2016 due to battery degradation.
GM will attempt to relaunch the Bolt models to Americans starting Thursday with a new national television campaign during Major League Baseball’s opening-day games, according to Majoros, Vice President of Chevrolet marketing. Ads shown to the media did not mention the recall or fires. The vehicles have already resumed production in GM’s plant in Michigan.
“We think we have a lot of interest and awareness for this,” he said, adding the advertising will have a “big presence” during the opening day games of Major League Baseball.
Majoros believes the recall didn’t damage GM’s reputation and he forecasts record sales for Bolt this year and even more in 2023, topping the previous high of 23,300.
“We see record numbers of sales and production for ’22, and we see ‘23 being bigger than ’22. We are bullish on both EV and EUV,” said Majoros.