[gdarb]

UBS did a complete teardown and cost analysis on the Chevrolet Bolt. The findings include that the Bolt’s electric powertrain is $4,600 cheaper to produce than it was previously estimated. UBS says that there’s “much cost reduction potential left.”

“We estimate that GM loses $7,400 in earnings before interest and tax on every Bolt sold today, mainly due to a lack of scale.”

http://insideevs.com/chevrolet-bolt-teardown-analysis-explained-video/

 

[obermd]

UBS did a complete teardown and cost analysis on the Chevrolet Bolt. The findings include that the Bolt’s electric powertrain is $4,600 cheaper to produce than it was previously estimated. UBS says that there’s “much cost reduction potential left.”

“We estimate that GM loses $7,400 in earnings before interest and tax on every Bolt sold today, mainly due to a lack of scale.”

I'm amazed they put this in. Completely new model lines for ICE cars also lose money for a while for this very same reason. This article sounds more like clickbait to me given the headline vs. the reality.

 

[AtomicPowered]

Wow! UBS made a $4000+ error in a cost analysis. That's serious. I don't think there is $20k more to a Bolt than a cheap gasser. Car companies pay for legal, employe benefits, borrowing money and utilities over a vast empire of underutilized buildings. That cost is overhead on every vehicle. Hardware is a pittance.

 

[DonC]

Cost tear downs are usually accurate. Much harder to know about costs other than factory variable costs. Also with such a large company there are so many joint costs which can be apportioned in any logical way compounds the difficulty. In any event, after ZEV credits GM is likely not losing anything.

 

[NYRob]

... In any event, after ZEV credits GM is likely not losing anything.

That's always been my viewpoint as well.
All the pluses and minuses were figured out by the bean-counters well in advance of actual production and If they can't make $$ on it (one way or another) why bother making it?

They're not being nice or a good neighbor and they have nothing to prove.... they're in it for the $$$.

 

[Barry]

If you read all the way to the end of the lengthy report, it says that Chevy is actually making money on each unit produced in terms of the actual cost of production vs. wholesale price. The estimated loss comes from allocated overhead-type expenses. But Chevy has no incentive to restrict production, because more units sold means more total profits. Even a current production levels. The article hints that scaling up will only improve profitability.