General Motors is planning on making the new $30,000 electric Chevrolet Bolt in October 2016 at an underused small production facility north of Detroit.
Chevy's new Bolt, and a companion model for GM's Opel subsidiary in Europe, will be manufactured at a GM plant located in Orion Township, two sources told Reuters this week.
GM's production target of 25,000 to 30,000 for the Bolt is relatively modest considering the hype the EV received during its unveiling at last month's Detroit Auto Show.
In 2014, GM sold 18,800 Chevy Volt hybrid electric vehicles, which sells for $35,000, according to Reuters.
Interested customers can expect the Bolt to reach company dealerships sometime in early 2017. It's expected to have a range between charges of more than 200 miles.
The Bolt is being created on GM's Gamma global small-vehicle platform, according to Reuters, who cited two supplier sources that wished to not be identified. The same set of components will provide the base for the next-generation Chevrolet Sonic, which is also set to hit production sometime next year.
The factory set to be used for the Bolt currently makes the Chevy Sonic and the Buick Vernao, though it has been operating at below capacity lately. Small-car sales have plummeted due to lower gas prices experienced in the U.S.
The decline in small-cars forced GM to lay off 160 of 1,470 employees working at the Orion facility.
GM expects the new Bolt to compete for sales against similar vehicles, like Tesla's Model 3 in 2017, along with the Nissan Leaf. Nissan sold a little over 30,000 Leaf vehicles in 2014, according to Reuters.
Late last month, GM announced that Maryland would become the first East Coast state to offer its only full-electric vehicle currently for sale, the Chevrolet Spark EV. This could help the Bolt reach more locations around the U.S. once it's ready, as long as the Spark pulls in enough customers that is.
GM has not commented about the news yet, so stay tuned as more information gets released regarding the Bolt's new production plant.
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