{"podcast":{"title":"The Drivecast","slug":"the-drivecast-7679263","podcast_index_feed_id":7679263,"rss_url":"https://feeds.megaphone.fm/thedrivecast","website_url":"https://thedrive.com","image_url":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/d7009d68-c3da-11f0-ab0b-27730799ec2e/image/5e5027867576f73364084f450272a356.jpg?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress","author":"The Drive","episode_count":22,"summary":"The Drivecast gives you an inside, behind-the-scenes look at the biggest stories, controversies, and people shaping the car industry from one of the top automotive news sites in the country. Each week, The Drive's editor-in-chief Kyle Cheromcha, director of content Joel Feder, and a rotating cast of expert staffers will break down how automakers are navigating a transformative time. Massive shifts in technology, manufacturing, and consumer demands are changing the ways cars are built and sold quicker than ever, and the way car companies are navigating this moment will shape the way our roads look for the next century. It doesn’t matter if you’re an enthusiast since birth or just curious about why cars are the way they are today—we’ll give you the inside line with our exclusive reporting and break it all down for you. If you like what we're doing, check out The Drive for the latest news, analysis, and in-depth car reviews, sign up for one of our newsletters, and subscribe to us on YouTube. We're also posting all the time on Instagram and Facebook.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-02T06:19:23.382800+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-drivecast-7679263"},"episode":{"title":"Why does GM keep killing America's cheapest EV?","slug":"why-does-gm-keep-killing-america-s-cheapest-ev","published_at":"2026-03-11T18:20:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-drivecast-7679263/why-does-gm-keep-killing-america-s-cheapest-ev","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-drivecast-7679263","url":"https://pdst.fm/e/traffic.megaphone.fm/RECU3439783841.mp3","audio_url":"https://pdst.fm/e/traffic.megaphone.fm/RECU3439783841.mp3","summary":"General Motors just did something unprecedented. It brought a car back from the dead—with the promise of killing it again. Today, we're diving into the life, death, and temporary revival of the $29,000 Chevrolet Bolt—the cheapest EV you can buy in America—and how its saga represents a lot that's gone wrong in the new car market is today. The Bolt was GM's first modern electric car when it was launched in 2017, beating the Tesla Model 3 to production. For a time was the only EV under $50,000 with over 200 miles of range, and owners adored their little oddball hatchbacks. But in 2023, GM announced it was killing the Bolt to focus on building full-size electric pickups and SUVs, part of a massive plan to make an all-EV lineup by 2035. People were furious . The media (hi) was incredulous. Why would GM just kill a popular, affordable EV with sales at an all-time high? After a few months of heavy criticism, GM reversed course and promised it would find a way to put the Bolt back into production. It was an unprecedented move, but three years and a lot of work later, the car is back, basically the same price, better than ever. Trouble is, it's a completely different world now. EV sales have plateaued, no one is buying those expensive electric pickups, the federal tax credit is gone, and the Bolt is now the cheapest electric car you can buy in this country. Other automakers are prepping their own affordable EVs to compete. And yet, GM is getting ready to kill the Bolt again in just 18 months. What is going on here? Joel and Kyle get into it all after Kyle spent a day test-driving the new-old Chevy Bolt and pressing the car's engineering team for answers. [Thanks to the National Corvette Museum for sponsoring today's episode! Enter here (https://bit.ly/4uBefxU) for your chance t…","meta_description":"General Motors just did something unprecedented. It brought a car back from the dead—with the promise of killing it again. Today, we're diving into the li…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2908,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-drivecast-7679263/episodes/why-does-gm-keep-killing-america-s-cheapest-ev/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-drivecast-7679263/why-does-gm-keep-killing-america-s-cheapest-ev.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}