Chevrolet Bolt EUV electric crossover design teased for first time

Chevrolet has teased its upcoming all-electric crossover for the first time, with the Bolt EUV getting a sneaky preview ahead of its arrival in dealerships next year. Sibling to the Bolt EV, the electric hatchback with which Chevy has been competing with the Tesla Model 3 among other electric cars, the Bolt EUV was briefly shown off at the General Motors Fleet Solutions Summit this morning.

It's fair to say the Bolt EV has been looking pretty lonely in Chevrolet's line up. With the demise of the Volt plug-in hybrid, the all-electric hatchback has been effectively carrying the torch by itself for some time now. That's despite the uphill challenge presented by not being American drivers' favored body-style.

Indeed Chevrolet's decision to go for the hatchback rather than a crossover from the get-go has been well criticized basically from the day it first revealed the Bolt EV. Finally, 2021 will address that. The Bolt EUV – or "Electric Utility Vehicle" as Chevy is insisting on referring to it – is expected to give the car a higher seating position and more cabin flexibility.

What it won't be, however, is based on General Motors' new electrification platform. GM Ultium may be the architecture and battery technology that the automaker is expecting to offer 400+ miles of range and the flexibility to underpin everything from luxury crossovers through to beefy pickup trucks, but it won't be here in time for the Bolt EUV.

Instead, it'll likely use the same tech as the Bolt EV. In 2020 form, that means 259 miles of EPA-rated range and 200 horsepower. It's entirely possible that the larger Bolt EUV may see that range number dip, of course, though Chevrolet could offset any extra weight by squeezing in more battery capacity.

What the Bolt EUV will do is introduce Super Cruise to the Chevrolet line-up. Expanding outside of Cadillac models for the first time, the hands-free driver assistance system combines adaptive cruise control and lane centering on divided highways in the US and Canada. In its most recent iterations, GM has added automatic lane-changing abilities to Super Cruise, and we'd expect that feature to be present on the new EV too.

The Bolt EUV will go into production in summer 2021, alongside a refreshed Bolt EV. No word on pricing for the electric crossover yet, but the current 2020 Bolt EV is priced from $37,495.