GM Offering Reimbursement to Early Chevy Blazer EV Owners

by Chris Teague

Published: March 22nd, 2024

gm offering reimbursement to early chevy blazer ev owners

General Motors desperately needed its next-generation EVs to make a good impression. The company is fighting Ford and others in a race to match and outperform Tesla, but it hasn’t had the best luck along the way. After announcing that Ultium-based EVs would not offer Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, GM issued a stop sale for the Chevy Blazer EV over software issues. The issues were bad enough for the automaker to offer an olive branch to early owners in the form of a financial reimbursement.

Edmunds reported that it received a letter from the automaker that outlined a $5,620 reimbursement for their 2024 Chevy Blazer EV. Since it lowered the EV’s price upon lifting the stop-sale order, owners who paid more might be eligible for some money back. The publication purchased a Blazer EV for long-term testing and noted that it had worked fine since a dealer installed a planned software update.

Beyond software frustrations, the reimbursement will be welcome for owners. The Blazer EV is still expensive after the price cuts, and Chevy missed its price targets for the Equinox EV, so GM’s stable is notably empty of affordable electric models. The automaker will revive the reasonably priced Bolt EV soon, but there’s no word on whether the move to an Ultium platform for the car would impact the price.

The move away from Apple CarPlay and Android Auto is seen as somewhat of a cash grab. By removing a software layer in favor of an in-house interface, GM can control subscriptions and other services that increase after-sales revenues. Of course, the tech still needs to work, so GM has its work cut out to keep things running smoothly.

[Image: Chevrolet/GM]

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Chris Teague

Chris grew up in, under, and around cars, but took the long way around to becoming an automotive writer. After a career in technology consulting and a trip through business school, Chris began writing about the automotive industry as a way to reconnect with his passion and get behind the wheel of a new car every week. He focuses on taking complex industry stories and making them digestible by any reader. Just don’t expect him to stay away from high-mileage Porsches.

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2 of 20 comments

Akear on Mar 23, 2024

This vehicle has become the vega of EVs.

GM will never sell more than 10,000 these a year.

1 Reply
Redapple2 on Mar 23, 2024

No car play = no buy

1 Reply

Recent Comments

Kwi65728132 Nothing surprising here, give a company an inch and they'll take a mile (and your data)...If it bothers someone that their "connected" car is spying on them then maybe they should make a tin foil hat for their car, or buy an older car without connected tech or old enough that the connected tech can no longer phone home due to that generation of cellular service being turned off; my 2014 Hyundai is no longer connected as 3G service has been turned off as of last year and so far, car manufacturers have not clued in on the idea of a common interface standard for cellular modems so upgrades in wireless service would be plug and play.Not that being able to remotely start your car from 10,000 miles away was a smart idea anyway.
Dartman Blah blah blah. Methinks some people doth protest too much; hiding something? If it really bothers you so much follow John Prine’s sage advice: “Blow up your TVThrow away your paperGo to the (another?) countryBuild you a homePlant a little gardenEat a lot of peachesTry an' find Jesus on your own"
Bd2 Please highlight the styling differences.
ToolGuy @Matt, not every post needs to solve *ALL* the world's problems.As a staunch consumer advocate, you might be more effective by focusing on one issue at a time and offering some concrete steps for your readers to take.When you veer off into all directions you lose focus and attention.(Free advice, worth what you paid for it, maybe even more.)
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