The resurrected Chevrolet Bolt is being assembled in an unusual way.
Chevrolet’s Fairfax Assembly Plant is assembling the electric SUVs in small batches of identical cars at a time as part of a new strategy it calls “Winning with Simplicity” that it is trying out at the factory.
Thirty Bolts in the same color and configuration are sent down the line together, which means workers don’t need to keep shuffling between components for each car that passes their station.
“This is all about winning with simplicity,” Dieu Nguyen, batch manager, Fairfax Body & Paint Shop said in GM News. “It helps us with scheduling requirements and suppliers, and it ensures that our employees are working on the right things.”
It also makes things easier in the paint shop, where each color needs to be flushed out when a change is made, and for ordering parts supplies. GM is planning to keep the small batch assembly process when the factory switches to production of the Chevrolet Equinox and Buick Envision replacement next year.
Bolt production previously took place at GM’s Orion Assembly plant in Michigan, where things wrapped up in 2023 before the vehicle was updated for 2027 and had its assembly moved to Fairfax in Kansas for a limited run.
Bolt deliveries began early this year and just 791 were shipped to customers in the first quarter as production ramped up. The Bolt is the lowest-priced electric vehicle currently on sale in the U.S. and starts at $28,995 with 262 miles of range. GM executives have said there are plans to follow it up with an all-new affordable EV, but have not yet confirmed any details or a timeline for its introduction.
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