Bolt and Volt? What’s in a name – and a little confusion – may not be a bad thing, according to Chevrolet’s marketing chief Tim Mahoney.

He has approved the name Bolt for Chevy’s next electric car even though it is so similar to Volt, the name of the brand’s range extender electric model currently on sale.

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Some media reports in the US have suggested discussions have been going on as to whether there would be some confusion over the names but Mahoney insisted this was not so.

He told USA Today the image association between Bolt and Volt was good.

“It can be an advantage,” he added. “Anybody can do one study and get it to say what they want. Chevrolet did two studies trying out the Bolt name on potential buyers and same result, it did well.”

The Volt is an extended range electric car which can travel around 40 miles in battery only mode before its petrol engine kicks in to run a generator. In contrast, the Bolt is a pure battery subcompact, with a range of up to 200 miles on a full charge, and will be priced about US$30,000.

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Chevrolet said it would spend $200m to retool its Orion Assembly facility near Detroit to build the Bolt  but so far has not announced a schedule. The EV was shown in concept form at the Detroit show last January and GM announced at the Chicago show in February it would put the EV into production.

GM North America president Alan Batey said in Chicago the automaker was moving quickly because of the Bolt’s potential to shake up the status quo for electric vehicles. He said it would use battery technology from the Volt and Spark EV, a battery electric car that Chevy sells in California, Oregon and Maryland.

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