It’s not a secret anymore that GM is developing a
Bolt-based electric crossover — the automaker itself has confirmed the new
model recently. But while General Motors announced it will invest US$ 300 million to
build a Bolt-based EV at the Orion Township Assembly plant, the company did not
reveal the name of the new EV.
However, a trademark application surfaced recently
revealing the name Bolt EUV, where the latter part could stand for Electric
Utility Vehicle. While we don’t know 100 percent that’s the name GM will use,
the three prototypes you see in these spy shots are for the crossover that will
use the same BEV2 architecture as the Bolt EV.
Spotted on public roads in Michigan, the vehicles
certainly look bulkier than the Bolt and are definitely crossovers — although,
for some reason, Chevrolet also refers to the existing Bolt EV as a crossover.
They are also electric, as they drove past the photographer in complete
silence.
Not much is known about the new all-electric
crossover other than it will be built alongside the current Bolt and will be
“designed and engineered off an advanced version of the current award-winning
Bolt EV architecture.” This means we can expect it to feature improvements to
the drivetrain — the range should at least match the Bolt’s EPA-rated range of 383 km.
As the prototypes featured a full-body camouflage
foil wrap as well as a black cover on top of that plus padding in some places,
it’s quite hard to decipher the Bolt EUV’s styling. Nevertheless, some details
(such as the C-pillars) appear consistent with a leaked image from 2017 that
purportedly showed the Bolt crossover. The Chevrolet Bolt EUV is
expected to arrive sometime in 2020 as a 2021 model.
