General Motors Co. is keeping its Chevrolet Bolt EV and EUV plant down the rest of the year as it continues to work through a recall on the electric vehicles, the automaker confirmed Thursday.
"GM has notified employees at Orion Assembly the plant will take downtime for the remainder of the 2021 calendar year," GM spokesman Dan Flores said in a statement. "This decision will enable us to continue prioritizing recall repairs. We will continue to inform employees at the appropriate time of any additional production schedule adjustments in early 2022, as we continue to focus on battery module replacements."
Orion Assembly production was first halted the week of Aug. 23 after GM announced a recall of all Bolt EVs and EUVs — more than 141,000 — for potential battery fire risk. GM is prioritizing replacing those recalled Bolts with new battery modules. The automaker restarted production for two weeks in November to make replacement Bolts for customers having their Bolts fixed. Production went down again the week of Nov. 15.
In a Thursday note to employees obtained by The Detroit News, Orion Plant Director Reuben Jones said: "Beyond 2021, our production schedule continues to be dictated by what is needed to help the customers affected by the recall, as opposed to filling orders for new vehicles."
