The Mar 2017 EV Sales Numbers are in (978 Bolts)

http://insideevs.com/chevrolet-volt-sales-hit-2017-high-in-march-while-bolt-ev-sales-struggle-with-inventory-issues/

I'll start with my usual disclaimer: I'm a clueless idiot watching from the sidelines. You can interpret the article's contents though your personal Bolt news filter. The site above kind of regurgitates GM's corporate line.

Not counting the 2,000 car backlog in Korea, it seems like the Bolt experiences an initial sales surge from waiting EV fans when it first arrives in a market. And then sales really cool down. I'm not in GM accounting, so I don't know why. Is it low demand, constrained inventory, or something else?

At least through Q1, it looks like GM is not on a path to selling 30,000 Bolts in 2017 (in the USA). Maybe 15,000? But there are 9 months to go, right? Maybe inventory and demand will both soar by year's end. Here's hoping.

How do you interpret the latest sales figures?

The pricing still reflects the pent-up demand for the Bolt. A contact at a local dealer told me they have hundreds of Bolts in stock, are waiting for more realistic pricing so that they car start moving them.

My current least expires this month. I could and would like to get a Bolt as a replacement, but I probably will replace with another Volt. I'll hold off as long as I can for the Bolt, await a price cut or incentive increase. I do need another car, but I can wait a few months for it.

http://insideevs.com/monthly-plug-in-sales-scorecard/ is the list of sales numbers of various models of EVs and PHEVs.

Perhaps the Bolt may be selling the Volt.

michael said:

The pricing still reflects the pent-up demand for the Bolt. A contact at a local dealer told me they have hundreds of Bolts in stock, are waiting for more realistic pricing so that they car start moving them.

My current least expires this month. I could and would like to get a Bolt as a replacement, but I probably will replace with another Volt. I'll hold off as long as I can for the Bolt, await a price cut or incentive increase. I do need another car, but I can wait a few months for it.

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Smart, Michael.

978 Bolts moved in a month isn't going to cut it. Dealers typically finance every car they car they have in inventory, and as months go by on unsold units, the pain increases. Wait them out. The cheap GM-subsidized leases & dealer incentives are coming soon.

It wouldn't hurt to make a firm, yet lowball written offer on a particular unit VIN at the dealer with hundreds in stock. My offers always have expiry dates of 1-business day. Don't cave; it's a buyer's market and you pretty much have them by the balls.

>> Dealers typically finance every car they car they have in inventory

I was about to take exception to that statement. But then I read this article that basically says the same thing. Kind of sounds like car dealers are between a rock and a hard place.

http://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/29/how-a-car-dealer-is-run/

I used to be in the biz. More of a hobby than anything else. In the heyday of USD-CAD parity, I was importing about 1 car per month and flipping them for a few bucks. If the car sits on the lot for months, it isn't unusual for the dealer to unload it below cost.

The largest dealer auction network is Manheim, and there can be some killer deals to be had if you (that is, dealers) watch for them. I haven't seen any Bolts being sold between dealers yet, but it will happen as lease returns come in and GM sells corporate-use vehicles. I still use it as a tool to find out what the dealer paid for the car so I can adjust my offer accordingly.

Here's a listing for Spark EV's that were sold in the last few months.

oilerlord said:

michael said:

The pricing still reflects the pent-up demand for the Bolt. A contact at a local dealer told me they have hundreds of Bolts in stock, are waiting for more realistic pricing so that they car start moving them.

My current least expires this month. I could and would like to get a Bolt as a replacement, but I probably will replace with another Volt. I'll hold off as long as I can for the Bolt, await a price cut or incentive increase. I do need another car, but I can wait a few months for it.

Click to expand...

Smart, Michael.

978 Bolts moved in a month isn't going to cut it. Dealers typically finance every car they car they have in inventory, and as months go by on unsold units, the pain increases. Wait them out. The cheap GM-subsidized leases & dealer incentives are coming soon.

It wouldn't hurt to make a firm, yet lowball written offer on a particular unit VIN at the dealer with hundreds in stock. My offers always have expiry dates of 1-business day. Don't cave; it's a buyer's market and you pretty much have them by the balls.

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The additional thought I had was that it's unlikely they will decrease the MSRP until the Bolt is available everywhere and the pent up demand has been satisfied everywhere.

In the meantime, they could offer regional incentives in those areas with built-up inventories.

https://electrek.co/2017/04/03/chevy-bolt-ev-deliveries-us/

The Electrek version of the story is a lot more amusing. Especially the part about the Bolt having several years lead on the competition.

ScooterCT said:

https://electrek.co/2017/04/03/chevy-bolt-ev-deliveries-us/

The Electrek version of the story is a lot more amusing. Especially the part about the Bolt having several years lead on the competition.

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That report says:

The start of deliveries in Canada and South Korea might explain the lack of inventory in the US as GM is still reportedly seeing production constraints, but the volumes were also low in those markets.

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I'm in Vancouver BC, and the reason volumes are low here is because there aren't any cars available and all the dealers' allocations are already spoken for. It seems to me like GM has flooded California and starved everyone else.

^
Wut he said.

Pretty much 100% of all cars allotted to Canada were sold in Jan and Feb. There may be the odd dealer here and there with a few left, but unlikely.

For instance, my dealer in Ottawa had 5 allotments, I got number 4 back in the beginning of February. (should take delivery next week).

Granted the Canadian market is probably smaller than Californias, but when we're talking about monthly sales of less than 1000 TOTAL, it will still impact numbers if there are none available for sale.

I'm waiting until next year so I can see what the M3 turns out to be and what the M3's impact on super charging will be. Will there be long lines that make the supercharging almost unusable on long trips? Who knows. I doubt I can get an M3 with heated seats, XM radio, and wifi hot spot (all of which are important for me) for 35k. So logically I"ll probably be getting a Bolt. But I still want to "wait and see" with the M3 and hope XM radio isn't a 5,000 option (requiring pano roof and audio upgrade) like it is on the S model.

cyaopec said:

So logically I"ll probably be getting a Bolt.

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But emotionally, you want a Model 3...even if it ends up costing more. I completely understand. The Model 3 is a beautiful car.

I don't think you can accurately assess demand until the Bolt is available for sale in all states which isn't due until the fall - the beginning of the 2018 model season.

Fact is, Chevy has done virtually NO advertising or promotion on the car. At least I haven't seen any on TV. I have noticed a Bolt in one of those Chevy "award" ad spots but no specific mention of the car as "Car of the Year."

All the hype has been from car or EV geek mags and publications -- paper and online.

Hard to sell any Bolts to traditional ICE buyers/drivers unless you make some effort to sell it to those who need to buy it on order for Bolt sales to make a difference.

So, all sales to date are to early adopters who were already EV fanatics or people (like me) who are traditional ICE drivers who saw value in and were pre-sold on the concept.

The test of the popularity of the Bolt and other EVs will be how many they can sell to the unconverted and that will probably not be known until well into 2018 when the M3 and other "planned" 200 mile+ EVs will supposedly hit the market.

We'll see . . .

sgt1372 said:

I don't think you can accurately assess demand until the Bolt is available for sale in all states which isn't due until the fall - the beginning of the 2018 model season.

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Even then, it might take a month or two for the inventory pool to level out. So if the Bolt because nationally available at the beginning of August, it might be Sept / Oct before we see the full sales potential. If we look at the sales chart for the first year of the Volt (which had a similar roll out), the sales didn't take off until Oct.

sgt1372 said:

I don't think you can accurately assess demand until the Bolt is available for sale in all states which isn't due until the fall - the beginning of the 2018 model season.

Fact is, Chevy has done virtually NO advertising or promotion on the car. At least I haven't seen any on TV. I have noticed a Bolt in one of those Chevy "award" ad spots but no specific mention of the car as "Car of the Year."

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Yeah, I think we can (somewhat) accurately assess demand for the Bolt. It's available in 8 states - with the largest EV markets, and charging infrastructure yet, only 978 sold last month. To your point, early adopters with hot money for a Bolt have already bought. I think that also includes a percentage of buyers that merely bought & shipped a Bolt to their state.

Despite Tesla having no advertising for the upcoming Model 3, they have hundreds of thousands of pre-order deposits for the car. I don't believe more advertising for the Bolt would have necessarily brought in more sales. This isn't a slight against the Bolt in particular, only recognizing that other manufacturers are also having trouble selling their EV's as would-be buyers wait for the release of the Model 3.

Forgive me but I will repeat what has been my mantra on this subject....

I will lease a Bolt next month when I will need a new car.

I expect to have 30,000 miles on that Bolt before I could get hold of a Model 3 if I wanted one.

In three years, I will replace the Bolt with whatever is the best car for me then available, which may or may not be a Model 3.

It seems, once again, that some folks who pre-ordered an M3 are desperate to claim the Bolt's sales are tanking.

I realize the need to justify plopping down a huge deposit on a car nobody has seen and waiting (sometimes) years for delivery can make one feel a tad insecure. My sympathies. However, do we really have to resort to Trump-style reasoning to support that decision?

Isn't there enough room in the affordable, long range EV market for -TWO- quality choices?

I keep asking myself: Why aren't those 400,000 reservation holders lining up at GM dealerships to buy Bolts? After all, those M3 reservations are 100% refundable on demand? And probably lots of reservation holders live in CA just a few miles away from a dealership with plenty of Bolts in stock or incoming.

Do they see something in the M3 they like, and something in the Bolt they don't like? Do they hope to flip their M3s for a profit?

If only Karnak The Magnificent were still around, I bet he could answer. I guess the rest of us will just have to let some time pass and the answer reveal itself.

For myself I' m waiting to see what the "base" M3 has in terms of features and what the cost of options are. For a lot of people in California who travel the Super Charger network (even if you have to pay) is a nice feature. Also, a lot of people prefer sedans to the small CUV style. If the tax credit expires before you can get an M3 than I don't think the 7,500 premium is worth it for the M3. BEVs are still too expensive.

Personally I think the Super Charger networks will be swamped by the new owners and long distance charging will be an ordeal. If Tesla is actually doubling or tripling the number of stalls at their SC locations then I'm proven wrong. But so far I don't see any signs of such a massive expansion. Tesla owners still talk of certain locations being swamped on holiday weekends. If that's the case now, imagine what it will be like in a year. So for me the equivalent of 'beating the market' may very well be the Bolt.

michael said:

Forgive me but I will repeat what has been my mantra on this subject....

I will lease a Bolt next month when I will need a new car.

I expect to have 30,000 miles on that Bolt before I could get hold of a Model 3 if I wanted one.

In three years, I will replace the Bolt with whatever is the best car for me then available, which may or may not be a Model 3.

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That was pretty much my thinking when I leased my Bolt and cancelled my M3 reservation.

Won't have anywhere near 30k miles on it at lease end (more likely only 18-20k) but I probably won't have any interest in buying it because of the high residual.

Hoping that the M3 will actually be available for a test drive and lease/purchase at that time. The car should also have been completely road tested and problem solved by that time as well.

Of course, other 200+ mile EVs should be available at that time as well. I will consider and test drive all of them before leasing another EV.