What is the fate of the market for 2017-19 Bolt EVs?

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neomaxcom

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Apr 8, 2021
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The impact of the recall over the battery of the 2017-19 Bolts remains an untold story.

Chevrolet's efforts to market the new Bolt EUV and the newer (late 2019--21 model years) with some large discounts on new Bolts as they face the challenges from Ford, VW, as well as established EV market players like Tesla and Nissan.

There are various 'kinds' of buyers from new car lovers - some buy but a lot lease -but including those who seek reliable used cars, ranging from $2500 specials to truly interesting buys like my 2014 Spark EV acquired off-lease in 2017 with 10k miles for $9,000.

I've been interested in getting a Bolt when they came off-lease late last year or early this year.

All cars are a commodity. They have their attributes and one thing my Spark EV drove home, is these suckers are cheap to run. As a retiree, I recognized that and picked up a gig-job taking photos over about four counties in west Georgia. I rack up about 15k miles a year but with the eight year ticker on the battery; a choice of non-low rolling resistance tires and my range has dipped from a solid 65-85 winter summer to a 52-74 range. The tire choice is partly because I do find moments of pleasure getting scratch coming out of a corner on a curvy country road at 45mph.

Anyway, I started looking for a Bolt in late January and noted the obvious; the prices ranged from $13.5 to 17k ... but there is this stop sale on the cars.

Some of the larger regional dealers seemed to have a ton of off-lease cars at the lower prices but the best deals are in the north east and west coast. Carvana even had a handful of offerings at $14.

In last few days I've seen some of listings on car gurus show that these dealers are raising the price on these before the stop sale is removed.

So I come on here and see GM is buying the things back. I've heard rumors that GM is planning on exporting these 'potential problems' - apparently based on the rumor that battery manufacturing process ended up with a 'fold' in one of the battery pouches.

We all have to know that given the stop sale coincided with a ton of three-year lease returns means there are Bolts sitting on lots somewhere.

And like any commodity, the price is a function of supply and demand.

My question is how is GM, and or their dealers, going to dispose of these cars?

Are there going to be any good deals?
 
Yes, No, Maybe. No one on a public forum has sufficient information to answer your question. There will be WAGs and lunatic fringe opinions and a few well-reasoned discussions, but it's unknowable at this juncture. Get back to us in a year with what you learned.

jack vines
 
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