GM cuts the price of the Chevy Blazer EV as sales resume after software issues

Detroit — “ General Motors Chevrolet Blazer EV has reduced the price of its new Chevrolet Blazer EV by thousands of dollars as it resumes sales of the vehicle on Friday after an 11-week hiatus to address software issues.

Current 2024 Blazer EV models will start at $50,195, or $6,520 less than when they first went on sale in August. This excludes a $7,500 federal tax incentive for which the vehicle now fully qualifies.

GM halted sales of the electric vehicle in late December after reports from customers and media of problems with the car's infotainment and charging systems, including an inability to charge its battery that could leave drivers stranded.

All of the issues affected the vehicle's software and were fixed without any physical changes to the vehicle, according to Paris Cetinok, GM's vice president of products, software and services. They ranged from small errors in coding to the car's ability to communicate with some public electric car chargers.

“There's not this one dominant root cause that's causing all these problems,” Cetinuk told CNBC during an interview. “It's circumstances and rare instances coming together.”

Cetinok, ex apple The executive, who joined GM in September, said many of the issues were “rare but still annoying.” The automaker began halting sales to avoid causing problems for additional customers.

To find and address the issues, GM conducted a “testing matrix” that involved frequent rewriting and testing of the code as well as actual on-road testing across the country, Cetinuk said.

“For us, it was more important to do it right rather than fast,” he said. “Speed ​​and accuracy are of course ideal, but the point is that we take the pain on ourselves to take the time, stop and fix it.”

GM said the Blazer EV repairs helped it enhance software quality verification testing for future vehicles.

In addition to fixing software issues, GM has added or changed some features after early customer feedback. It includes multi-colour, customizable ambient lighting and revised driver information graphics, including a battery percentage display.

GM will not bring back Apple CarPlay and Android Auto in the Blazer or future cars, according to Cetinok. He asserts that GM software that can communicate with the rest of a vehicle's internal systems provides a better customer experience and more functionality than a third-party add-on that is simply displayed on a screen.

“When you're a deeply vertically integrated company that's actually building hardware as well as software and services, you can create much more seamless experiences,” Cetinuk said. “Vertical integration is the best way to go.”

GM caused a stir last year when it said its future electric vehicles would not include features that essentially mirror functions like navigation, music and other features from a smartphone to the car's infotainment system.

The vertical integration is also expected to help GM generate revenue from potential infotainment subscriptions and services. In October 2021, GM projected annual software and services revenues of about $20 billion to $25 billion from an estimated 30 million connected vehicles by the end of this decade.

The starting price of $50,195 for available 2024 Blazer EVs is $6,520 less than when they first went on sale in August. The most expensive 'RS' models of the Blazer EV will be reduced by $5,620, with prices starting at $54,595 for all-wheel drive, or $56,170 for rear-wheel drive.

Additional pricing for other models, including a price below $50,000, will be announced closer to when the vehicles go on sale later this year.

The new price is before a $7,500 federal tax credit for which the vehicle now qualifies as part of the Biden administration's 2022 inflation-reduction bill. GM has changed the material sources so that the vehicle is eligible for the full incentive.

“We are excited to have the Chevrolet Blazer EV available again, this time at an attractive price, enhanced features and functionality, and eligibility for the full consumer tax credit. I encourage customers to visit their nearest Chevrolet dealer to test drive this amazing vehicle,” Chevrolet Vice President Scott Bell said in a statement.

Vehicle pricing is one of the many issues facing electric vehicle adoption, which has been slower than many expected just months ago. The price cuts bring the car closer to the gas-powered Blazer, which starts at roughly $37,000 to $48,000.