Ward's: GM Preps Holiday Deliveries of Chevy Bolt

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Not sure how much of this is "news" (and the one every three days report is obviously wrong) but it feels a bit like we are being prepared for a token number of deliveries in December. Only 138 units complete as of the end of the November?

General Motors officials confirm the automaker’s hotly anticipated battery-electric vehicle with a perhaps revolutionary 238 miles (383 km) of range and $37,000 price tag will land under the rooftops of U.S. dealerships by the end of the year.

“Yes, we’re on target to do that,” says Yves Dontigny, production launch manager for the Bolt.

Exactly how many of the 5-passenger CUVs will be made available is unclear, but the assembly plant here cranks out one Bolt every three days with a 1-shift crew. They’ve been building salable units for roughly five weeks.

According to WardsAuto data, GM closed November with 138 units on Orion’s lot or in transit to the initial launch states of California and Oregon, where EV interest is highest and tailpipe-emissions regulations are the toughest.

http://wardsauto.com/engines/gm-preps-holiday-deliveries-chevy-bolt

 

[DucRider]

....
Exactly how many of the 5-passenger CUVs will be made available is unclear, but the assembly plant here cranks out one Bolt every three days with a 1-shift crew. They’ve been building salable units for roughly five weeks.

huh???
Should that be 3 minutes (20 per hour)?
30/hr was their long term goal - they started at 9/hr.

 

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Pretty sure the Orion assembly line is capable of not more than nine cars per hour total. Since they are producing three cars on it currently this probably means less than 300 Bolts a week, though that doesn't explain the 138 number, which they are at least stating as the entire November production. This seems pretty doubtful since they've been at it for a month.

 

[DucRider]

Pretty sure the Orion assembly line is capable of not more than nine cars per hour total. Since they are producing three cars on it currently this probably means less than 300 Bolts a week, though that doesn't explain the 138 number, which they are at least stating as the entire November production. This seems pretty doubtful since they've been at it for a month.

The line at the Orion plant does more than 90K/yr on a single shift schedule (that's well over 40/hr). When they were ramping up the Bolt (the 9/hr pace), it was every 4th or 5th car on the line. Shifting more production to the Bolt (instead of the Sonic) is very likely given the demand.

I agree the math in the article doesn't add up, but they got at least one number horribly wrong and not sure how much I trust the rest of the numbers they are quoting.

 

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Yup. GM could do better in communicating and clear up a lot of this confusion. If demand is strong and cars are already on their way to eager customers, then why not crow about it a little? Throw out some impressive numbers.

 

[oilerlord]

I agree the math in the article doesn't add up, but they got at least one number horribly wrong and not sure how much I trust the rest of the numbers they are quoting.

Everyone with a website and a laptop now has the ability to play journalist reporting the "news", without fact checking or consequences when they get it wrong. 1 car being produced every 3 days - but at the same time, LG is expecting to ship 30,000 battery packs. There used to be editors that would read this stuff before publishing it. Clearly that isn't happening anymore.

 

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The editors were the first to go up against the wall when the revolution came.

 

[oilerlord]

Yup. GM could do better in communicating and clear up a lot of this confusion. If demand is strong and cars are already on their way to eager customers, then why not crow about it a little? Throw out some impressive numbers.

Because Mary Barra is a behind the scenes corporate exec, like all GM CEO's that came before her. Other than a somewhat robotic, teleprompter-read speech at CES during the unveiling of the car, she's invisible. GM built what looks like a great car, they call it a "game changer" but instead of calling press conferences to get buyers excited about the car; she's hiding in her office.

Contrast that to what Elon Musk does. Love or hate the guy, or his cars, it doesn't matter. Musk is a rock star among CEO's, and is widely heralded as the Steve Jobs of the auto industry. If you asked 100 people on the street who Mary Barra is, no one would know. That's the fundamental difference between Tesla and GM, and illustrates the disparity in culture within those two companies. One company gets people excited and captures imaginations, the other may have a home-run on their hands, but seemingly doesn't give a damn.

 

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Most automobile companies are more like GM than Tesla. It's a culturally conservative business. Even Mini, which I thought was pretty good at ginning up interest in their cars a dozen years ago or more, seems since then to have gone more mainstream in their marketing. As far as Musk is concerned, over promising can come back to bite you in the backside.

 

[oilerlord]

As far as Musk is concerned, over promising can come back to bite you in the backside.

Create a buzz. Sell the sizzle. Having 400,000+ orders on the Model 3 is a high-quality problem that Musk has time to figure out.

 

[devbolt]

Ward's reporting is rather poor, or rather the phrasing is poor. While it takes 3 days to build a Bolt from start to finish, that doesn't mean they don't have multiple Bolts being built at same time. They're producing 9 per hour to start. On a standard 8-hour shift that means 72 per day, or over 1400 per month.

 

[SparkE]

Most automobile companies are more like GM than Tesla. It's a culturally conservative business. Even Mini, which I thought was pretty good at ginning up interest in their cars a dozen years ago or more, seems since then to have gone more mainstream in their marketing. As far as Musk is concerned, over promising can come back to bite you in the backside.

There was never a 'Mini' car company. The Mini was first produced by BMC (British Motor Company) and all of its follow-ons (British Leyland, Rover, ...). Around 2000 BMW BMC bought Rover, and very soon re-sold all of it *except* the Mini, the rights to which it kept. The 'restyled Mini' (which is probably what you were talking about) appeared around 2000, and was manufactured and sold by BMW.

 

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There was never a 'Mini' car company. The Mini was first produced by BMC (British Motor Company) and all of its follow-ons (British Leyland, Rover, ...). Around 2000 BMW BMC bought Rover, and very soon re-sold all of it *except* the Mini, the rights to which it kept. The 'restyled Mini' (which is probably what you were talking about) appeared around 2000, and was manufactured and sold by BMW.

I am perfectly aware of the storied history of the Mini. The revived, current version of the car was in design at Austin-Rover when BMW bought the company, mainly for the Land Rover (which they ended up selling off). BMW completed the design, but the first iteration was a hybrid of German and Rover engineering and parts, as well as the Tritec engine left over from the joint project between Chrysler and Rover (made in Brazil). And of course it is assembled in the old Austin-Rover (British Leyland, MG, Sterling, etc.) factory near Oxford.

The company was then and still is operated as a subsidiary of BMW. At the start the car and its marketing were very distinct from BMW, in fact you'd hardly know then that BMW was even involved. Much more in the past tense. Everything about the car is more BMW now than it was then, including the engine, which for the first time, is now made by the parent company.

The first model year for the revived Mini was 2002. Having read about it I sought out and rented one of them for a week on a vacation in England. It was so new hardly any others were on the road over there yet. I enjoyed that experience so much I ordered one as soon as I was able. It took about six months for my order to be filled. This is the 2003 Mini Cooper that I drive to this day. With the slightest provocation I will bore you with pictures of my car just after it rolled off the container ship and the story about how I got those pictures.

So aside from that, I don't know a single thing about the Mini.

 

[oilerlord]

Thanks for the clarification SparkE, but I got RP's point the first time around.

The Mini (brand) has gone mainstream in it's marketing (and product offerings), and by that - perhaps trying to be all things to all buyers. For that matter, so has BMW and Porsche. Once companies that built the "ultimate driving machines" and cars where "nothing even comes close" now build cars that have lost much of their soul that originally made them great.

We are keen on the Bolt. We are excited about this car, and want to know everything about it. We are enthusiastic about what the Bolt represents, and what it may evolve into. We assume that GM cares about the Bolt as much as we do but for a company that sells dozens of car, truck, SUV, and commercial models over 12 different brands in 37 countries - there may only be so much love remaining that finds it's way to the Bolt.

By contrast, Tesla has to focus on the Model 3, Model S, and Model X. That focus doesn't get lost in the minutia of trying to be a company offering all cars for all people. They pour all of their love, money, and attention into those three cars, and it shows. From the CEO down to their "ownership advisors", the culture of excitement about what they sell is captivating, and a little contagious if you've ever been on a Tesla test drive.

 

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We are keen on the Bolt. We are excited about this car, and want to know everything about it. We are enthusiastic about what the Bolt represents, and what it may evolve into. We assume that GM cares about the Bolt as much as we do but for a company that sells dozens of car, truck, SUV, and commercial models over 12 different brands in 37 countries - there may only be so much love remaining that finds it's way to the Bolt.

Thank you, this is the heart of the matter. Before I got wind of the Bolt I was looking at the new Mini Clubman. It was disappointing in many ways. Not a bad car, mind you, but instead of being the next generation of the quirky engaging road machine I've been driving for nearly 14 years, it is basically now a junior BMW. This isn't a terrible ambition but in the process most of the character and individuality had been bled out of it. The Bolt may similarly end up being GM's redheaded stepchild. The odds actually favor that outcome, so it might not be a bad idea to just assume that from the start, and take it for what it is now, rather than for what it might become if GM commits to it. That's my plan, anyhow. It seemed to work with the Mini.