Chevrolet Teases Bolt 'EUV' One Component at a Time
Chevrolet has issued a close-up shot of the Bolt EUV to maximize its marketing mileage ahead of the official debut. It looks like we’ll be seeing the “Electric Utility Vehicle” (crossover) delivered to us piecemeal as General Motors has already issued a darkened silhouette of the model’s exterior and a similarly shadowy peak of what’s going on inside.
Carefully spaced to drop right when the public forgot that Chevy was building the Bolt’s bigger brother, we’ve been given our first image of the model with the correct lighting — and it actually gives us a real sense of what the automobile might look like when the lid is finally lifted.
While we don’t know much else about the vehicle, it’ll obviously be larger than the hatchback with some additional ground clearance. GM told us to expect the EUV to be about 3 inches longer than the Bolt EV and provide a bit more legroom for occupants riding in the rear. It’s also supposed to be the company’s first battery-electric to get Super Cruise functionality now that the system is migrating away from Cadillac in an attempt to saturate the whole of GM’s lineup.
Chevrolet will release more details about the 2022 Bolt EUV in the coming months. GM is anticipating production to start next summer, so we imagine the official debut will take place in spring of 2021. Pricing is TBD but we’d imagine the company will probably tack a few grand onto the Bolt MSRP. Expect pricing to start somewhere around $41,000 for the base crossover.
[Image: General Motors]
A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.
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With the exception of the Fiat 500, the Bolt is the nation's slowest selling compact sized vehicle. Anything with the Bolts name is garbage.
This marketing exercise is truly silly. It is premised on the idea that the product being slowly "revealed" is already desirable, so the excitement builds -- e.g. the new Corvette. It's hard to see the Bolt as "desirable" in any significant way, unless you're the kind of person who gets excited about refrigerators or vacuum cleaners. The truth about any of these future "cars" is they are becoming commoditized, first in appearance (what can you do with the basic shape of an SUV to make it interesting or distinctive?) and secondly, with electrification, in driving characteristics. I occasionally watch a YouTube channel, "curious cars" which consists of 20-30 minute mini-reviews of various vintage and not so vintage cars by an interestingly dyspeptic salesman named Bill. His deal is finding these cars, cleaning them up a bit and then, in a reverse-psychology way, selling them via his reviews (he actually panned the BMW electric car, calling it a "toaster"). Anyway . . . one of his recent reviews was of a 1968 Buick Riviera, which had low mileage and was in good condition. It is a truly pretty car outside, in a way that nothing is today. The interior, as Bill noted, was showing signs of the General's de-contenting, as compared to the most desirable Rivs (1963-65). It seemed, frankly, kind of crude. But the exterior design was beautiful, unique and therefore instantly recognizable as a Riviera. Hardly a commodity . . . and it featured a 430 cubic inch V-8 rated at 360 HP. So, aurally, it had character as well.