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June 2018 Volt and Bolt sales are in.

5K views 16 replies 13 participants last post by  mjones21 
#1 · (Edited)
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#2 ·
Why are GM's EV sales so anemic? Both cars are well designed vehicles. For me, the gen2 Volt is a fun car that varies between 85-90% electric and my lifetime gas mileage (only 50 gallons since purchase), is about 40mpg. My gen2 premiere Volt was a great step up from my gen1 basic model.

I haven't spent too much time around the Bolt; the spec's are that its a little faster from 30mph to 70mph and goes 238 miles as an EV so it should cover all of your short trips, and its priced only a bit higher than the Volt.

Anyway, yeah, I'd like to see a bigger car too like the Honda Clarity, but I actually like small cars like the Volt.
 
#3 ·
I don't think GM is really interested in selling Volts and Bolts, they've never spent a penny on marketing them. Last year the Bolt was new so Chevy got a lot of free publicity from reviews and articles about how they had shipped the first affordable 200 mile BEV. This year all the news is about the Tesla Model 3, mostly bad news I might add, but still it totally dominates the EV press. The lack of publicity and zero marketing accounts for why the sales of GM EVs are way off this year.
 
#4 ·
I've always felt Volt/Bolt was designed and produced for nothing more than to produce company expertise in battery-electric vehicle systems--to inform products and sales in other countries where BEV/PHEVs are more popular (or required).

Despite the Volt existing for almost 8 years, knowledge in the dealership network is still anemic/non-existent. Low profits, undesirable sizes (crossover? SUV?), it's no wonder they're getting their clock cleaned by Prius Prime and upstart Honda Clarity.

At the end of the day, GM sees the future of "driving" as "driver-less" and the Bolt is a cornerstone of that effort.
 
#7 ·
Toyota marketed the Prius quite heavily. I agree this isn't a vehicle or format issue, as both the Volt and Bolt are excellent cars. It's solely a customer product awareness issue. Marketing 101.
 
#17 · (Edited)
Yes and no. The Gen 1 Volt should have been marketed way way more aggressively than it was. The leaner marketing on the Gen 2 makes sense given the current state of the tax credit. I would bet you will see a heck of a lot more Bolt and Volt ads as soon as GM sells their 200,000th electric car.

It makes more sense for Toyota to market aggressively because they have a customer base from the Prius that's already committed to fuel efficiency, and, more importantly, they're a latecomer to the EV game and will want to get as much of the government subsidy as they can for as long as it still exists.
 
#8 · (Edited)
GM and Honda are working on the next generation of batteries and are devising production methods.
GM is trying a test run of San Francisco Driverless cars for 2019.
The Volt is still arguably the best EREV from an engineering standpoint, and is getting some minor upgrades.

Everybody is gearing up for Sept 2019 and the 2020 models. There could be quite a selection of 200+ class EVs testing in the Winter of 2018.

Tesla is selling everything they can make, but has not proven profitability. They still start at $50k+. Just how much market there will be Jan 2019 for premium priced electrics is unknown. 2019 will be an exciting year for EV buyers.

I still anticipate adding a Tesla Model 3 to my fleet. I just don't believe the timing is right. 3 months ago, sure. Today, things are a lot different.

If all works out right, I will be a guinea pig for the Jaguar i-Pace EV400, knowing full well the EV400 will be probably be superceded in a year with a EVXXX skateboard. This is totally unlike me for a transportation vehicle. I'd rather have others debug them.

Jaguar has easily outspent any EV maker in the last 1.5 years in marketing and testing road EVs. They are investing big, and gambling big. It will take years to pay off that marketing attack.

It will be my first import car in decades.
 
#13 · (Edited)
GM is at 184000, so they have to average 5330/month to run out the 200k EV sales in Jul, Aug, Sept. It is more likely that GM won't hit 200k until sometime in Q4, Oct, Nov, Dec. Inside EV's says Tesla hit ~206k in Jun, so GM will have 6 more months of $7500 tax credits than Tesla. This could increase GM sales in Oct 2018 through the end of Mar 2019, when Tesla's tax credit will be $3750.
 
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