GM Is Quietly Spending Millions to Advertise EVs, and Most People Don't Know It

Key Takeaways Before You Read:

• GM allocates 25% of its advanced streaming and addressable TV budget to EVs, utilizing high-frequency digital "bursts" to target Bolt EV shoppers with surgical precision.
• In a statement to Torque News, GM marketing confirmed a dedicated "launch burst" from March to May, focusing heavily on digital and social video to maximize EV impressions.
• New marketing assets leverage the 2027 Bolt’s upgraded 150 kW DC charging rate and NACS compatibility to convert technical superiority into immediate sales.
• Scroll to see the comments or be the first.

Shortly after I visited a local Chevrolet Dealer to check out the new 2027 Bolt EV, a strange thing began to happen to my social feeds. I was seeing frequent, high-quality, and very engaging advertisements for the Bolt. This struck me as odd, since under my stories about slow EV sales, many of my readers often comment, “If the manufacturers would advertise them, they’d sell.”

GM Is Pretty Open About Its Advertising Plan For EVs
The New England Motor Press Association enjoys great support from General Motors. I recently tested and reviewed a new 2026 Chevrolet Equinox EV for a week, and many of my colleagues also had a week with it to test it out, capture images and impressions, and create content. This sort of support used to be taken for granted, but with the changes in the industry, we don’t see as many test vehicles as we once did. What do we find? Simply that, like the old saying about “only brush the teeth you want to keep,” we seem to get test vehicles that automakers want to sell. Clearly, GM wants to sell EVs, or we would not have had an Equinox in the fleet. That’s not really advertising, though; it is promotion.

I was very excited about the Chevy Bolt because it is my personal favorite affordable EV model. I’ve twice named it the best EV overall at another publication, with full support from my colleagues there. My wife and I also seriously considered buying one when our beloved Honda Fit needed to be put out to pasture, but circumstances unrelated to the Bolt delayed that plan. So, when the new Bolt arrived at dealers this past quarter, I went to see one and drive it. I was very impressed and created a short report on the Bolt.

The dealer was excellent. The sales associate was an EV expert and answered all my very detailed questions quickly and enthusiastically. Does it have an NACS port? “Yes, here it is, come see.” Tell me about DC charging. “DC charging is much faster now, and the nominal best charge rate is up from about 50kW to about 150 kW in the SOC sweet spot.” That was what I remember the conversation being like.

After I thanked the dealer and left, having given up all my personal info, I was politely contacted by email one time, reminding me that the Bolt was there if I wanted one. No hard sell by the dealer, but they also didn't ignore me. Then I started seeing social feed adverts. A lot of them. About one a day for a week. GM was clearly targeting me, a known shopper with interest, and the adverts spoke directly to me. Efficient. Cost-effective. Smart. That’s the way to make the most of an advertising dollar in 2026. I don't watch conventional “TV,” so any traditional adverts GM ran would be wasted on me.

GM Opens the Kimono
I reached out to the marketing team at GM and asked if they would like to help answer the myth that the company does not advertise EVs. Here are verbatim quotes I received from the GM team:

Chevy continues to advertise our EVs and has plans to continue to do so in 2026. EVs account for approximately 25% of our advanced TV investment (streaming + addressable), with a focus on high-quality, targetable video impressions.

This statement tells me a few things. GM has an ongoing EV advertising campaign. And, more importantly, since EVs are nowhere near 25% of total deliveries for GM brands, the company is placing an outsized emphasis on EV advertising.

(GM) Chevrolet is executing a dedicated Bolt EV launch burst from March to May, with a heavy emphasis on digital video and social video, creating one of our most concentrated EV flights of the year while maintaining ongoing support across the rest of the calendar.

These facts tell me that I am not crazy and that what I was seeing on my social feed was part of a planned push to promote the Bolt through concentrated, targeted advertising.

GM presently has four EV marketing campaigns underway. I’m going to list them out here, and be forewarned that when you click the links, you will see an advert. Since this is a story about advertising, we felt it was appropriate to do so.

It's Your Equinox EV
Equinox EV "Studio"
Bolt Reveal 
See the USA (featuring Equinox EV)

GM is a truck-heavy automaker, and EVs are also featured prominently in its overall truck campaigns. Here are two examples. One current, and one past:

Truck Anthem: This Is Who We Are (currently running)
Chevy Trucks Family of Trail Boss (Previous campaign, ran from September 2025 to December 2025)

I studied marketing at Northeastern University before the iPhone was invented. Even back then, the professors were all about targeting ads and measuring the results. The old days of spray-and-pray adverts on TV were already long gone. With new tools in the 2026 kit to better reach prospective buyers like me, GM can now poke and prod individuals most likely to become actual customers. So, if you’re not seeing a lot of EV adverts, it may be that it’s because the automakers don't see you as a consumer ready to make the leap just now.

If you wish to try an experiment to see if what I’m telling you is true, do a few searches on the Bolt in your browser, or go the full distance and stop into a dealership and leave your contact information. I think you will find that GM will ping you with advertisements that speak directly to you as an EV fan and potential buyer.

I placed a pair of examples of Bolt advertisement screenshots I took from my social feed at the top of this story. There is also a screenshot of an Equinox EV advert inserted under the first paragraph. I collected seven various GM EV advertisements in total. Tell us in the comments below whether you think this type of EV advertising is a sensible way for GM to promote EVs. 

About The Author

John Goreham is a 14-year veteran of Torque News. An accomplished writer and a long-time expert in vehicle testing, Goreham also serves as the Vice President of the New England Motor Press Association and has a growing social media presence. He’s also a 10-year staff writer and community moderator for Car Talk. Goreham holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and an undergraduate Certificate in Marketing. In addition to vehicle and tire content, he offers deep dives into market trends and opinion pieces. You can follow John Goreham on X and TikTok, and connect with him on LinkedIn.