Chevrolet Plan To Return To Europe With An All-Electric Line-Up

Chevrolet is one of the most iconic American car brands. It’s famed for its wide range of affordable cars, from large trucks to subcompact cars – but perhaps best known for creating the Corvette, the world’s longest continuously produced passenger car, which has been in production for over 60 years. The sports car is well-loved all over the world.

Chevrolet has a rich history but has missed out on many opportunities over the past decade. The company famously pulled out of Europe in 2016, leading to them being absent in the market and missing out on the boom of all-electric cars, despite still producing them in America. 

General Motors is planning a comeback to Europe, which will see them return to the market with a new line-up of all-electric cars, including the Cadillac Lyriq SUV, GMC Hummer EV and Chevrolet Bolt EV.

In anticipation of their return to the British streets, we’ve written this article to inform you of the reasons behind Chevrolet’s withdrawal in 2016, the previous electric cars they’ve released in the UK and why they’ve decided to return. We’ve also included details on the Chevrolet Bolt EV, which looks likely to be the first Chevrolet EV in the UK they will return with.

Does Chevrolet Sell Any Electric Cars In The UK?

The simple answer is no. Chevrolet has sold electric cars in the United Kingdom in the past, but they don’t anymore. They don’t sell cars at all. Although you can’t buy them directly, you can still import them, like the Chevrolet Corvette Stingray. As an example of how many Chevrolets are imported into the UK each year, just 62 Chevrolet units were registered here in 2019.

Why Don’t Chevrolet Sell Any EVs In The UK?

General Motors withdrew from Europe in 2016 when they sold Vauxhall-Opel to the PSA Group (Now Stellantis). In doing so, they stopped releasing new Chevrolets here. While Chevrolet might be the prototypical American car maker in the USA, in the UK, they developed a divergent reputation for dull, mediocre-at-best vehicles, which weren’t successful. 

GM suffered nearly 20 years of losses in Europe and decided to focus on its profitable business in the USA instead. They’re not the only company that has struggled in Europe, as Ford has similarly struggled, but it’s certainly true that Chevrolet’s sales in the United Kingdom have never been particularly impressive.

Even when operating in Europe, they often competed with themselves, as General Motors’ main division in the UK at the time was Vauxhall, which sold very similar cars. For example, the Chevrolet Bolt was identical to the Vauxhall Ampera, although it was cheaper.

Eventually, lagging sales figures led the brand to withdraw from the marketplace, which meant the UK missed out on their first full EV, the Ampera-e, in 2016.

Chevrolet Volt

The Chevrolet Volt was a plug-in hybrid car that Chevrolet launched in May 2012 with a starting price of £33,545. It was the first electric Chevrolet that British motorists could buy; it provided around 38 miles per charge, had decent performance and was very good-looking. Underneath, the Volt was virtually identical to the Vauxhall Ampera, but the Volt’s starting price was lower. Together the two cars sold just 1,279 units in the UK between May 2012 and September 2015. 

Eventually, production halted on the car in 2019. The primary reason was that it was a sedan, and sedans were declining in popularity. Another reason was that it was a plug-in hybrid car, and hybrid sales have dropped as range anxiety became less of a worry for motorists. Drivers who previously had avoided owning an all-electric car due to range anxiety now preferred to buy one as they could drive longer between charges.

However, by 2019, the Chevrolet Volt was no longer sold in Europe, and importing it was the only way you could get one.

Will Chevrolet Return To The UK?

General Motors have plans to relaunch into Europe soon with a whole line-up of all-electric cars; these are likely to include the Chevrolet Bolt EV. GM builds its cars with a bespoke EV platform called Ultium, which underpins a diverse range of vehicles such as the Hummer EV, Chevrolet Silverado and Lyriq SUV. General Motors has committed to making a fully-electric line-up worldwide by 2035.

GM is investing fully in the electric vehicle space, and its ambitions in the market are likely the reason for its return to Europe. The UK is an attractive marketplace for electric auto manufacturers as EVs are rapidly becoming very popular here, as opposed to the USA, which is lagging behind in adoption. 

GM won’t find it easy to land in Europe, though, as there is a very crowded European electric market nowadays, and many of their rivals have well-established vehicles here. GM has brand recognition on their side, like Chevy, but it’ll be hard to beat the established big industry players. They will need a great launch to overcome Chevrolet’s negative reputation in Europe, which they left in 2016. 

Not much about General Motors’ return to Europe is known, not even a precise date. It isn’t even confirmed whether a Chevrolet electric car will be part of their return line-up. An announcement in 2023 will reveal GM’s plans and tell us what cars they will launch. While we don’t know if they will be included, it is hypothesised that one of the cars that will make the line-up is the Chevrolet Bolt EV. 

Chevrolet Bolt EV

The heavily-rumoured European-bound Chevrolet Bolt is an electric car that was first released in 2016. It’s a no-nonsense car with plenty of space and a zippy drive. It’s one of those practical cars, which isn’t the best to look at or particularly impressive, but it does the job. 

The Bolt will fit in somewhere between the supermini-sized Renault Zoe and the family hatch VW ID.3. It’s outclassed in many areas by its European competition. Still, it does have a better range than the Zoe and VW ID.3.

The Bolt is a zippy little car perfectly fine in most areas. However, it’s not particularly thrilling; it’s got a firm ride, and its steering is ok, but it is hardly something to get excited about. Its joyless driving experience is bettered by its rivals – but if you’re looking for a practical car, the Bolt works just fine. 

Bonnet - Find Your Perfect Charger

The United Kingdom is in the middle of a great explosion of electric cars. More and more cars are available each year, pushing technical boundaries and our understanding of the electric car’s limitations.

Car brands like Chevrolet will be looking to enter the market because the country is rapidly adapting to the electric car and is an enticing market. The government plans to ban all new petrol or diesel cars from 2030; this will mean that by then, we should expect a significant portion of British roads to be covered in electric vehicles.

While battery technology is improving and range anxiety is no longer significant, you still need to power your car somewhere. With more electric drivers, there is an increased demand for charging points. 

The government gives grants, making getting charging points for your home, work and local council easier than ever before, but public charging stations remain the fastest way to charge. Public charging stations can be found anywhere, from supermarket car parks to convenience stations. They’re affordable and convenient, but the sheer volume of stations complicates charging.

Each charging station is operated by a charging network, each with different prices, charging speeds and connector types. If you’re in an area you don’t know well, you could go to three or four different stations before you find a charger that can charge your car, and that’s before you find out its tariffs.

The simple way to avoid the stress of locating a charging point is to download Bonnet. Bonnet is an app that lets drivers quickly and easily discover nearby chargers and all the information they need about them. 

One of the biggest issues about public charging is that each network has different requirements. One might need you to download their app before letting you charge, while another might make you pay for a membership and download an app before letting you charge. Over time this will clutter your phone. 

You don’t need countless apps to charge; you only need one - Bonnet - which lets you connect to 17+ charging networks in Europe and the UK with just one download.

You can use Bonnet for free to locate chargers and access them, but we also provide a service called Bonnet Boosts that helps make charging more affordable. Bonnet Boosts can save you up to 15% off all your charging within our partners’ networks. We provide two Bonnet Boosts options for motorists to choose from to ensure they pick the option that suits them best. 

Light Boost is £2 monthly for 10% off your charging. That’s just £24 annually for potentially hundreds of pounds of savings. Light Boost is the best way to charge if you have a home charging station but still regularly charge at public charging points. 

Turbo Boost is £8 monthly for 15% off your charging bill. Turbo Boost is the best way to charge if you don’t have regular access to a charging point at home, work or nearby, and instead, rely exclusively on public chargers to charge your car. 

We want to make charging more accessible for everyone – no matter your budget or car. 

Make charging stress-free by downloading Bonnet today.