When Chevrolet announced in 2013 that it was leaving the European market few bothered to raise an eyebrow. Sure we might miss the madness of the likes of the Camaro, but for every muscle car there was a hundred rebadged Opels (Chevy Trax) or bargain basement Aveos.
However, with the unveiling of the Bolt concept at this month's Detroit Auto Show, European markets may be vying to tempt Chevy back, as the idea of a €30,000 electric car that offers a theoretical range of 320 kilometres would be right up a European rue, or strada.
Set to arrive to the market by 2017 the Bolt will likely hit the streets just before the small Tesla 'Model 3' and just after the second generation Nissan Leaf - the best-selling EV thus far. None of these cars, or even the BMW i3, can come near the Bolt's 300km range, however.
"The Bolt EV concept is a game-changing electric vehicle designed for attainability, not exclusivity," said General Motors CEO Mary Barra. "Chevrolet believes electrification is a pillar of future transportation and needs to be affordable for a wider segment of customers."
While i3-like in its proportions, the Bolt is not i3-like in its construction, eschewing the expensive carbon fibre make-up of BMW's EV for a more traditional aluminium and magnesium construction. No word yet on the powertrain that powers the Bolt, other than one of the suppliers will be long time GM collaborator, LG Chemical.
According to Alan Batey, GM's Chief of North American Sales and Marketing: "We would not be talking about the price and battery range if we weren't able to make it happen". So there is a level of confidence within GM that it can back up its claims. This confidence comes from work done on the Volt range-extended hybrid (and its European cousin, the Opel Ampera), as well as the Spark EV.
Looking forward, beyond a conventional EV, there are suggestions that the Bolt has been engineered in such a way that its battery pack can be easily replaced with a fuel cell stack, giving GM the platform it needs once its partnership with Honda on fuel cells comes to fruition.
This built-in versatility would seem to suggest a bespoke platform, but the Spark EV, GM's first electric vehicle since the discontinuation of the EV1 in 1999, utilises the Gamma II platform. This Gamma II platform also underpins the likes of the Opel Mokka and recently launched Opel Corsa, so it is perhaps not beyond the realms of imagination to guess the Bolt might do too.
When asked could the Bolt spawn an Opel model for the European market a GM spokesperson exclusively told CompleteCar.ie:
"We are not commenting on our future product portfolio. What we can say is that electric cars will be part of our portfolio going forward. We will announce our plans when we can."
Could the affordable, long-range electric car be on the horizon? If the Bolt can live up to GM's lofty claims it would certainly seem so and even if there is a touch of vapourware to the Bolt hopefully its mere existence and the possibility of the largest car manufacturer in the world getting into the EV market in a big way will spur established manufacturers to up their game.