General Motors’ recall of the Chevrolet Bolt EV will cost it almost $800 million.
When announcing its second-quarter financial results, GM announced that the recall had hit its earnings by approximately $800 million. That’s particularly remarkable when you consider that companywide losses for all GM recalls were estimated at $1.3 billion, meaning the Bolt EV recall accounts for more than 60 per cent of these costs.
Read More: GM Issues Second Recall Over Fire Risk For 2017-2019 Chevrolet Bolt
Speaking about the automaker’s earnings with Bloomberg Markets & Finance, General Motors chief executive Mary Barra said the company will always do right by its customers.
“We’re always going to do the right thing for our customers, we prioritize their safety and so it was the right thing to do [the Bolt EV recall],” Barra said. “We’ve learned from it and we know that it is a very unique situation when two manufacturing defects, that are quite rare, happen in the same cell and that causes the potential for a fire so we’re going to address it and move forward. I think it’s also important to note that when we look at our Ultium platform, that is a whole new platform and battery system and that is what underpins the Hummer EV that will be out this year and the BrightDrop products and, of course, with the [Cadillac] Lyriq.”
General Motors most recently announced a second recall for 2017-2019 Chevrolet Bolt EV models last month. As part of this latest recall, the company will replace defective battery modules which were produced at LG Chem’s Ochang South Korea plant.
