General Motors announced plans to begin developing the Chevrolet Bolt in October of 2016. The announcement wouldn’t have ordinarily received as much public attention as it has, if it were not for the fact that the company is planning on executing the build of the Bolt in a plant that sits just north of Detroit. Ultimately, the plan is to produce between 25,000 and 30,000 vehicles per year, but that number will likely be subject to change – as the business needs evolve. The choice to use this plant though is something that has struck a note close to the heart of many General Motors enthusiasts, as this was one of the plants that was significantly idled during the recession that took such a hard toll on the company. The plant resides in the Orion Township, and was once a fixture within the General Motors family.
Currently, the plant in Orion develops the Chevrolet Sonic and Buick Verano – but will shift focus over the course of the next two years to begin developing the Chevrolet Bolt. The all-electric Volt car saw 18,800 vehicles sold this year – according to what General Motors has reported, and as the company sits on higher-than-usual vehicle inventory of the Sonic and Verano.
It has been a long road for the Orion plant which will now see its 4.3 million-square-foot plant really put to use – and its 1,800 employees put to work at a scale at which they hadn’t been in years. From 2009 to 2011 the plant was almost entirely inactive, until GM had $500 million invested in it to pull itself out of Bankruptcy. The Bolt will be competing with the Tesla Model 3, and will cost right around $30,000 before add-ons. A more likely sale price of the vehicle would be around $35,000 according to GM insiders. Next week it’s believed that GM will show off the Bolt at the Chicago Auto Show, but at the same time, much of the information that has been gathered to this point is up in the air – beside the fact that they will be producing the vehicle in that plant.
