GM says Bolt pricing in Canada is $5850 USD cheaper than US

[ggnykk]

Looks like all American consumer who plans to buy Bolt in US will be screwed.

source: The Chevy Bolt EV will be significantly cheaper in Canada, and include DC fast-charging

GM confirmed the base price of the Chevy Bolt EV today. It reiterated that it will start at $37,495 before any EV incentives for the base LT trim. And now, the automaker also confirmed the price for the Canadian version of the car.

Surprisingly, it will be significantly cheaper in Canada and I’m not talking about electric vehicle incentives.

Advertising the price with incentives can be misleading since eligibility can depend on both the automaker and the buyer. It’s something that GM has been doing since introducing the Bolt, but now that it’s closer to production, the company has been relaxing its use of the sales tactic.

Nonetheless, it already has an impact on the less-informed media. Like Engadget who published today that the Tesla Model 3 is $5,000 more expensive than the Bolt EV based on the Bolt price after incentives and the Model 3 price before incentives:

It doesn’t include all the nuance of the federal tax credit program phase out. A vast majority of Tesla Model 3 buyers in the US will have access to the full tax credit and all of them will have access to at least a partial credit – if they are themselves eligible.

Now back to the Chevy Bolt EV in Canada and again before incentives. GM confirmed today that the Bolt will start at $42,795 CAD or $32,400 USD. That’s significantly cheaper than the $37,495 USD MSRP in the US.

Furthermore, GM only offers DC fast-charging as a $750 option in the US, but it will be standard in Canada. It means that after the exchange rate, the Bolt EV is about $5,850 USD cheaper before incentives in Canada, which is really surprising.

Now if we go back to incentives, while it has not yet been added to the lists of eligible vehicles, it looks like the Bolt EV will receive direct incentives of $12,839 in Ontario, $8,000 in Quebec and $5,000 in British Columbia.

GM says that the Bolt EV will be “arriving at Canadian dealerships in early 2017”.

 

[Dakkor]

Well for once it's not us getting screwed....

 

[Yggdrasill]

Rumors have been floting around that the Bolt/Ampera-e might cost as little as 270,000 NOK her in Norway. That's just 32,500 USD. This lends credibility to the rumors.

I haven't been believing the rumors, because you would expect the Ampera-e to be more expensive, given shipping costs, homologation, larger warranty obligations, no emissions credits, higher wages, etc, but maybe it is the case.

I'm puzzled by GMs pricing strategy, though. I can't see what they're trying to achieve.

 

[ggnykk]

Rumors have been floting around that the Bolt/Ampera-e might cost as little as 270,000 NOK her in Norway. That's just 32,500 USD. This lends credibility to the rumors.

I haven't been believing the rumors, because you would expect the Ampera-e to be more expensive, given shipping costs, homologation, larger warranty obligations, no emissions credits, higher wages, etc, but maybe it is the case.

I'm puzzled by GMs pricing strategy, though. I can't see what they're trying to achieve.

I have no idea why GM sell the same car in Canada so much cheaper either. Kind of puzzling.

 

[mknox]

It's not really cheaper in Canada. Canadians earn Canadian dollars and Americans earn US dollars. These currency conversions are meaningless since Americans' buying power didn't decrease with the drop in the Canadian dollar. But yes, it's nice that GM didn't just do a straight currency conversion from $US to $CDN.

 

[Jeff N]

I have no idea why GM sell the same car in Canada so much cheaper either. Kind of puzzling.

Maybe they actually want to sell them? The price is higher in the US because buyers can get the $7,500 tax credit but there is equivalent national subsidy in Canada. The fact that they can sell the car for $6000 less in Canada tells you that they are making good per-unit marginal profits on sales in the US and it says they are able to drop the price when the tax credit phases out. In addition, GM projected their battery cell prices would fall from $145 per kWh today to $100 by 2022.

 

[SabrToothSqrl]

GM says a lot of things... like "Our cars are safe"...

So... I'm not really worried here.

 

[Az_Rael]

The fact that they can sell the car for $6000 less in Canada tells you that they are making good per-unit marginal profits on sales in the US and it says they are able to drop the price when the tax credit phases out.

That just tells me what I always suspected: The $7500 was being priced into the car to go into the car maker's pockets instead of mine. Oh well. It will get better once the credit phases out.

 

[Jeff N]

That just tells me what I always suspected: The $7500 was being priced into the car to go into the car maker's pockets instead of mine. Oh well. It will get better once the credit phases out.

With a modest volume of cars that per-unit profit is still going in the long run towards paying for all of research and development costs. If the Bolt can achieve 30,000+ volume for several years it has a chance to pay off those expenses and make "real" net profits. The more cars sold the better.

 

[ggnykk]

Maybe they actually want to sell them? The price is higher in the US because buyers can get the $7,500 tax credit but there is equivalent national subsidy in Canada. The fact that they can sell the car for $6000 less in Canada tells you that they are making good per-unit marginal profits on sales in the US and it says they are able to drop the price when the tax credit phases out. In addition, GM projected their battery cell prices would fall from $145 per kWh today to $100 by 2022.

the tax incentive in Canada is a lot better than US. It should US pricing that needs to be lower.

 

[Jeff N]

the tax incentive in Canada is a lot better than US. It should US pricing that needs to be lower.

The incentives in Canada are not national, as far as I know. There are only incentives at the province level. Some are generous. Some are non-existent.

 

[ggnykk]

did u read the article?

It is right here:
"Now if we go back to incentives, while it has not yet been added to the lists of eligible vehicles, it looks like the Bolt EV will receive direct incentives of $12,839 in Ontario, $8,000 in Quebec and $5,000 in British Columbia."

 

[Jeff N]

did u read the article?

It is right here:
"Now if we go back to incentives, while it has not yet been added to the lists of eligible vehicles, it looks like the Bolt EV will receive direct incentives of $12,839 in Ontario, $8,000 in Quebec and $5,000 in British Columbia."

Is your comment directed at me? I'm not sure.

In any case, that's fantastic if you live in Ontario or even Quebec. But I live in California, where maybe 40% of EVs are sold in the US, and so I get a subsidy of $7,500 federal and $2,500 state so I'm doing a lot better than BC. Some states have even better incentives than California.

Ontario and Quebec make up about 22 million out of Canada's 36 million population.

 

[SageBrush]

For once GM is doing something smart, giving up on the US market and giving the others a real good reason to consider a Bolt.

The market for small hatchbacks was never in the U.S. To begin with.

 

[SmartElectric]

What may not be obvious is that Chevy has large Canadian based operations with sizeable tax breaks and other net benefits which allow them to make a profit on the Bolt EV sale which may match the profit they make on a US sale. Meaning, profit is the same, price is lower due to factors in additional to currency exchange. There may also be dealership profit differences in the US vs CAN which mean US dealers take a bigger slice of the pie compared to CAN, which allows lower MSRP. It's all hidden finance magic.

Compare this to Nissan, where the price of the Leaf is crazy high in Canada, but ten thousand cheaper in the US before incentives with currency exchange. Nissan doesn't have the same size of operations in Canada and for sure cannot write off their profits anywhere as efficiently as can GM.