Blog Bolt EV Sales to Go Nationwide a Month Early

Chevrolet has started taking orders nationwide for its Bolt EV and expects to begin delivering them in two months. All electric-certified Chevrolet dealers can now order the $37,500 electric car.

Steve Majoros, Chevrolet’s marketing director for cars and crossovers, told Automotive News: “We were waiting for the training to be done, we were waiting for the right tools to be in place. We are kind of ahead of schedule on implementing all of those things as well as making sure we have enough sufficient inventory.”

The rollout is a month sooner than originally planned.

 

[Runarbt]

And yet deliveries in norway for most ppl is 6 months delayed, and they also are charged 2018 price increase of 1500 USD(!!) on top of delivery beeing delayed.

 

[azred]

Chevrolet obviously is trying to speed up their game before the Tesla configurator comes online.

 

[McRat]

Chevrolet obviously is trying to speed up their game before the Tesla configurator comes online.

More likely sales are not as high as expected due to the current industry volume trends.
Total US auto sales flattened started in 2015, and now are in a gentle decline.
Inventory levels are climbing for most makes and models.

 

[Weezer Fan]

I saw a black Bolt with new tags 2 days ago in Southwest Denver. In an area where I believe the owner of a dealership lives.

I am POSITIVE it was a Bolt. It drove passed me when I was stopped, I followed it, and saw it at a light. Never thought to take a picture.

 

[EV-lutioin]

Great car when you get inside and drive it, but from the outside it is probably not compelling to sell very well at its current price.

 

[Electroman]

Who knows, I may end up in a Bolt instead of an M3, just for the higher ride. Don't discount the comfort of riding higher, which is a key reason why most folks say they prefer a cross over SUV over a sedan.

Of course AP on an M3 is a game changer.

 

[teddytoons]

It'll be interesting to figure out how dealers will attempt to sell this against ICE and Hybrid vehicles sitting in the same lot.

 

[whitex]

On their website, Chevy shows Bolts in stock at nearby dealerships around Seattle (I looked a couple of days ago).

 

[Terje Ekberg]

More likely sales are not as high as expected due to the current industry volume trends.
Total US auto sales flattened started in 2015, and now are in a gentle decline.
Inventory levels are climbing for most makes and models.

In Norway we can not get enaugh of this car. If you order one today, you woundt get it before late 2018. The dealer have 5000 orders at the moment! GM can not deliver enaugh!

 

[CalBlue 85D]

I'm not a Bolt hater, I'm glad to see GM putting their resources into a usable EV. But, I'm not convinced that they can sell this through the ICE supply chain. I think their dealers in North America are reluctant to embrace EV's and either won't become certified to sell them, or will steer customers to other vehicles. Not an issue for a buyer who knows what they want, but for the majority of car buyers who are not sure if they want an EV, I think the GM model will result in slow sales. Especially outside of typical EV friendly states.

 

[EinSV]

The InsideEVs article explains why this is happening -- even with very limited production there are too many Bolts already sitting on the lots unsold so GM needed more dealers to try to move product.

As regular InsideEVs are well aware, local inventory in the first 14 states already offering the Bolt EV has exploded over the past month and a half, and now stands at just over 5,000 copies.​

With Bolt EVs inventories so high, and initial sales perhaps not quite as robust as originally expected in those areas (1,566 sold in May, 1,292 in April), the winner is the rest of the United States. Chevrolet Bolt EV Nationwide Deliveries Bump Up To August, Orders Open Now
​

Perhaps GM will eventually direct some of the production to places like Norway where there seems to be more demand than in the U.S.

 

[McRat]

I'm not a Bolt hater, I'm glad to see GM putting their resources into a usable EV. But, I'm not convinced that they can sell this through the ICE supply chain. I think their dealers in North America are reluctant to embrace EV's and either won't become certified to sell them, or will steer customers to other vehicles. Not an issue for a buyer who knows what they want, but for the majority of car buyers who are not sure if they want an EV, I think the GM model will result in slow sales. Especially outside of typical EV friendly states.

Could you please forward this message to my area Chevy dealers? They keep bugging me to buy a Bolt EV pretty much daily. Over 25% of the Bolt EV inventory is within 50 miles of my house.
Discounts as high as $6300 off MSRP now.

I'm waiting for the Model 3 though.

 

[McRat]

...
Perhaps GM will eventually direct some of the production to places like Norway where there seems to be more demand than in the U.S.

GM pulled completely out of Europe due to poor sales. Peugeot now owns Opel.
How bad were GM European sales? It is estimated Opel alone lost GM $20 billion this century. Essentially GM is paying Peugeot $600 million to take over their European operations.

How that affects AmperaE sales I do not know. But I would not be optimistic.

 

[EinSV]

GM pulled completely out of Europe due to poor sales. Peugeot now owns Opel.
How bad were GM European sales? It is estimated Opel alone lost GM $20 billion this century. Essentially GM is paying Peugeot $600 million to take over their European operations.

How that affects AmperaE sales I do not know. But I would not be optimistic.

Good point. I understand there is some sort of arrangement between GM and Peugeot regarding the AmperaE but don't know the details and how that will affect European deliveries.

 

[AndY1]

I'm disappointed by the GM.

We in Europe don't get bird's eye camera, we don't get LCD screen in the rearview mirror, but we do get a price increase (1500 US$) with a shortage of deliveries, while there are thousands unsold Bolts in California with a 6000 US$ discount.

This is even worse than the original Ampera/Volt launch.

And then the GM will claim, that the AmperaE doesn't sell well in Europe as it did with the original Ampera, which was sold at 60.000 US$ in Euros.

I think I will be driving my 2012 Ampera for quite a while. It works and apparently, GM doesn't want me to buy the new AmperaE.

Edit: I just read, that the CEO of Opel intends to resign because the new owner (PSA) are not going to invest in e-mobility.
Here may lie the reason why is it so.

 

[MXWing]

Make sure the honest GM salesmen explain clearly that even though the Bolt will be available nation-wide, it won't be capable of nation-wide travel.

100 mile travel radius before you turn around and go home.

 

[McRat]

Make sure the honest GM salesmen explain clearly that even though the Bolt will be available nation-wide, it won't be capable of nation-wide travel.

100 mile travel radius before you turn around and go home.

Whoever told you that Bolt EVs were not rechargeable lied to you. It must have been a saleman?

 

[MXWing]

Whoever told you that Bolt EVs were not rechargeable lied to you. It must have been a saleman?

You want to spend just one day going from So Cal to No Cal.

How long would it take to drive 600 miles in a Bolt?

How long would it take to drive 600 miles in a Tesla?

Case closed.

 

[miimura]

You want to spend just one day going from So Cal to No Cal.

How long would it take to drive 600 miles in a Bolt?

How long would it take to drive 600 miles in a Tesla?

Case closed.

It is about 1 hour and 20 minutes extra charging in the Bolt. If that's a showstopper for you, then don't buy it. NorCal to SoCal is perfectly doable in a Bolt.

If you really want to complain about something, choose a valid argument. For example, there is no fast charging between San Francisco and Salt Lake City except for Tesla. However, even that is dubious. If I had to go to SLC, I would fly regardless of what car I had in the garage.