General Motors Increases Chevy Bolt Production
» Posted November 28, 2022 • Resources | Share This Post
General Motors is recommitting to the Chevy Bolt after a disastrous recall sparked by fire concerns in the electric vehicles.
The automaker is ramping up Bolt production, Automotive News reports. GM plans to make about 70,000 of the vehicles next year, nearly 60 percent more than the total expected for 2022.
“The largest U.S. automaker said it was moving up body shop upgrades at its Detroit Factory Zero for Silverado EV production in 2023 and taking other steps to prepare,” David Shepardson writes for Automotive News.
The company is looking to turn the page on a massive safety recall over fire risks in the electric vehicles.
Roughly 140,000 Bolts were recalled for a pair of manufacturing defects in LG battery packs that could cause a fire. The move followed several reports of car fires, most or all of which happened while the vehicles were turned off.
LG last year pledged to fork over about $1.9 billion to cover costs and expenses related to the recall. Since that time, federal investigators have launched a probe exploring whether GM and other electric vehicle manufacturers are properly recalling vehicles when needed.
GM sold nearly 15,000 Bolt EVs in the third quarter of this year, its highest quarterly total. But Bolt sales were still down about 11 percent over the first nine months of the year, compared to the same stretch last year.
“We are being very intentional in the way we are executing our EV strategy to position the company for the same kind of success that we’ve earned with today’s pickups and SUVs, and with supercars like the Chevrolet Corvette,” Steve Carlisle, GM executive vice president and president said in a statement announcing the sales numbers.
General Motors announced early last year that it will only sell zero emissions vehicles by 2035.
Defective Vehicles Pose Safety Risks
The Bolt recall is not the only safety issue that GM and anyone who drives its cars have recently faced.
The company recently recalled some 100,000 Cadillac and GMC sport utility vehicles equipped with defective backup cameras that may fail unexpectedly. It said at the time that the defect increased the risk of an accident.
GM in April called back roughly 700,000 vehicles over a defect that could make them difficult to drive in wet weather: faulty windshield wipers.
The good news for GM and other car owners in California is that you have some important rights and protections under the state’s lemon law.
The California lemon law requires automakers to perform a variety of repairs on vehicles while they are under warranty. It also forces those companies to buy back or replace cars that they cannot or simply refuse to fix.
Talk with a California Lemon Law Attorney
If you are a Chevy Bolt or other car owner or lessor stuck with a lemon or locked in a dispute with a manufacturer over repairs, the lemon law attorneys at Bickel Sannipoli APC can help.
Call us at (888) 800-1983 or contact us online to speak with a lawyer today.
