General Motors has announced that it will begin production of the new 2027 Chevy Bolt later this year and will invest more money in three US sites. GM says that the old mid-size SUV will receive a new generation when it starts producing the gas-powered Chevy Blazer in 2027 at its Spring Hill, Tennessee, plant. In addition to the Bolt, the company suggested plans to develop another affordable, next-generation electric vehicle in Kansas City. In 2023, General Motors said that a second version of its moderately priced electric car would be ready in 2025. At the same time, it ceased production of the first-generation Chevrolet Bolt EV and EUV. Now we know when the new Bolt will be ready. There hasn’t been much news since then. GM said that the next-generation Bolt will be ready for the 2027 model year and that the company will be investing more in three US plants. Over the next two years, General Motors plans to invest approximately $4 billion across three sites to expand production of both gas-powered and electric vehicles in the United States. GM has announced that the Fairfax Assembly plant in Kansas City, Kansas, will begin manufacturing the 2027 Chevy Bolt EV by the end of the year. It is one of the sites that is being fixed up. We don’t have any additional information; the next Bolt will remain a tall subcompact hatchback. It might also be marketed as a subcompact SUV, resembling the EUV model from the previous generation. A car from the 2027 model year wouldn’t normally go on sale until around the middle of 2026, so this seems like an odd time for it to happen. In any case, this means that the next-generation Bolt will likely be released in the next few months. Fairfax is adding more new models to its list of things to do. As part of GM’s plan to boost output, the gas-powered Equinox SUV will be built in Fairfax around the middle of 2027. Currently, it is manufactured at the company’s plant in San Luis Potosí, Mexico. Additionally, GM said it would be spending more at the Fairfax factory to create a new “affordable EV.” We estimate that this EV will remain at a similar price to the Bolt, which currently costs around $30,000. Yet another surprise about GM’s spending. The Lyriq and Vistiq electric cars are made at Cadillac’s plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee. The gas-powered XT5 SUV is also made there. However, General Motors has announced that the gas-powered Chevrolet Blazer SUV will begin production there in 2027. This is a surprise, as earlier this year, it was reported that the mid-size Blazer would not receive a follow-up model and would be discontinued after the 2025 model year. These new generation plans will be for a new generation of cars, as the current Blazer, which was made in Ramos Arizpe, Mexico, has been on the road since 2019 with only minor changes. The last place to get new money is the Orion Assembly Plant in Michigan. The Chevy Silverado EV and GMC Sierra EV were originally scheduled to begin production at the Orion plant in late 2024, but the start date has now been pushed back to late 2025. Beginning in early 2027, however, GM will utilize the plant to manufacture full-size SUVs and light-duty pickup trucks that run on gasoline. Orion Assembly will not make those kinds of EVs. GM says that only Factory Zero in Detroit-Hamtramck, Michigan, will make the Silverado EV, the Sierra EV, the Cadillac Escalade IQ, and the GMC Hummer EV. Since people still want to buy its gas-powered full-size SUVs and trucks, and sales of those huge electric cars haven’t taken off as expected, this change indicates a shift in goals. GM also plans to start manufacturing some of its best-selling and most profitable models in the US rather than in Canada and Mexico. This move aligns with that plan.
