General Motors announced Tuesday that it's getting back in the Bolt business. It's resuming limited production of its Chevy Bolt electric car at its Orion Assembly plant.
Orion has been shut down since August, when GM widened its recall of the Bolt EV and Bolt EUV to cover 140,000 vehicles — every unit ever built — because of rare manufacturing flaws in the electric battery pack that represented a fire risk. Production was halted while GM and its battery supplier, LG Chem, worked out a fix, along with determining who would pay for it.
GM said limited production of new Bolts will resume Nov. 1.
South Korea's LG Chem, meanwhile, posted quarterly results on Monday that showed a 20% hit in profit because of the expense associated with the Bolt recall.
It reported an operating profit of 727 billion won ($617.55 million) for the July-September quarter, versus 904 billion won in the same quarter a year earlier. LG Chem had previously announced that it would take a one-time charge of 620 billion won in the quarter
Revenue rose 41% to 10.6 trillion won.
LG and GM struck a deal in which LG would pay for virtually all costs associated with the $2 billion Bolt recall. This let LG resume work on its suspended initial public offering. LG's LGES division is hoping to cash in on soaring demand for EV batteries. It also supplies Tesla and Hyundai and struck a deal last week with Stellantis to built a U.S. battery factory together.
A reminder to Bolt owners: Until your vehicle is fixed, GM advises you to park it outside, 50 feet from structures or other vehicles.
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