- Chevy will bring the Bolt name back for 2027
- Details are scarce, but we expect another inexpensive electric hatchback
The Chevrolet Bolt will return to the market for the 2027 model year. Parent company General Motors buried that news in a press release about plans for new factories this week.
The company’s Fairfax Assembly plant in Kansas “remains on track to begin building the 2027 Chevrolet Bolt EV by the end of this year,” GM announced.
The Bolt was the best-selling non-Tesla electric vehicle (EV) when Chevy canceled it in late 2023.
That seemed like an odd decision at the time. But the Bolt had a mixed reputation from an escalating series of recalls due to several fires blamed on improperly assembled batteries.
It also used older battery architecture. GM had developed an all-new battery working on a different chemistry as part of a platform that could be used to make vehicles of many types and sizes, but it wasn’t used in the Bolt of the time.
That platform now powers everything from the $34,995 compact Chevrolet Equinox EV to the immense $129,795 Cadillac Escalade IQ.
It will likely power the next Bolt as well. To keep the emotional capital of the name, the Bolt is likely to return as another all-electric subcompact hatchback and the least-expensive electric model in the Chevrolet lineup.
It will help power the company’s continued EV rise. GM announced this week that it “has solidified its position as the #2 seller of EVs in the U.S., with more than 62,000 EVs sold in the U.S. year to date through May.”
With Tesla facing controversy, protests, and crashing sales, GM may have its sights set on the top spot. An affordable reborn Bolt could help the company achieve that goal.