[don shaw]

Is $32,997 the 'invoice' price


CRANES
December 2, 2016 12:01 a.m. Updated 12/02/2016
THE INSIDER
New York buying 80 Chevy Bolts, with help from Obama
A hefty federal contribution will lower the cost of dozens of electric vehicles being purchased by the de Blasio administration
Erik Engquist By Erik Engquist

The de Blasio administration is ordering 50 all-electric Chevy Bolts this week and expects to have 80 or more ordered by June 30, the end of the fiscal year. Three city departments—Citywide Administrative Services, Environmental Protection and Parks—will get the first batch of the new vehicles, which can go 238 miles on a single charge (although it's not clear why a city vehicle would need to go that far).

The city is paying General Motors $32,997 per vehicle, but will get a federal rebate of $8,287 per car, making its actual cost $24,710, according to an Administrative Services spokeswoman. That's comparable to the $23,067 it pays for a Prius through a contract with Toyota. The city says the Bolt will cost less to operate and maintain than a Prius does.

The federal offset comes courtesy of the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program. The city's fleet of 530 electric vehicles is the largest of any U.S. municipality.

The Bolts, made in Michigan, are scheduled to arrive in the spring.

 

[Ladogaboy]

I wonder if these are the Bolts GM is losing $9,000 per car on. Hey, if GM wants to give a government discount, more power to them.

 

[viking79]

I still don't buy into the 9k loss per car, unless some non recurring costs are factored in. For example, Tesla has sold each car at a loss if you look at company profits vs expenses, but each car made is actually sold at an industry high profit margin. It really depends on which way you are trying to skew the numbers.

Given battery pack is around 12k it just doesn't add up, the car seems about like a $20-25k hatch, adding a 12k pack doesn't seem like it would make for a loss. That was from an unnamed source. Kelley has said a couple times they will sell as many Bolts as they can produce and there is demand for. Makes me wonder if it isn't some attempt to try to make it look worse for some reason. The Tesla centric elektrek.co has a post every other day or so trying to pin it as a compliance car, when it really isn't. They didn't start that one, but were quick to spread it.

 

[llninja]

Why does the media always say thanks to Obama? The $7500 tax credit was approved during the Bush administration.

Directly from the IRS website:

Section 30D originally was enacted in the Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008.

Yes there was a presidential campaign in 2008, but Obama did not take office until Jan, 2009.

 

[Ladogaboy]

I still don't buy into the 9k loss per car, unless some non recurring costs are factored in. For example, Tesla has sold each car at a loss if you look at company profits vs expenses, but each car made is actually sold at an industry high profit margin. It really depends on which way you are trying to skew the numbers.

Given battery pack is around 12k it just doesn't add up, the car seems about like a $20-25k hatch, adding a 12k pack doesn't seem like it would make for a loss. That was from an unnamed source. Kelley has said a couple times they will sell as many Bolts as they can produce and there is demand for. Makes me wonder if it isn't some attempt to try to make it look worse for some reason. The Tesla centric elektrek.co has a post every other day or so trying to pin it as a compliance car, when it really isn't. They didn't start that one, but were quick to spread it.

I don't buy it either. Actually, I think this $32,997 price is proof that GM isn't losing $9,000 per car because I'm willing to bet GM is selling those cars to New York at cost. That means, at a minimum, GM is profiting several thousand dollars on each Bolt. Not shabby for a new release of brand new technology.

 

[ClarksonCote]

I don't buy it either. Actually, I think this $32,997 price is proof that GM isn't losing $9,000 per car because I'm willing to bet GM is selling those cars to New York at cost. That means, at a minimum, GM is profiting several thousand dollars on each Bolt. Not shabby for a new release of brand new technology.

I agree they're not losing $9k on each Bolt, but any profit is likely small. I wouldn't let this discount number convince you that it's a large profit. There's probably no dealer profit involved in this direct sale either which helps too. Also, the profit on each vehicle can become even more razor then when the total sale price is $2,639,760 instead of $36,995.

 

[bro1999]

Even if GM WAS losing $9k per Bolt currently (I really doubt it), the Bolt would still be a money maker, as the 4 ZEV credits it nabs are worth $5k a pop to GM. $20k-9k = $11k profit.

But really, there is no way GM is losing $9k per Bolt sold. Possible GM could be losing some money at the moment, but nowhere near $9k.

 

[don shaw]

IMHO the $32,997 price GM charged NYC is the price Chevy dealers are charged (invoice price?) before incentives. GM is probably making a decent profit when selling cars at $32,997.

I do not buy the $9,000 loss per car considering labor, manufacturing costs, material costs and overhead associated with production,

Amortizing development costs is something else; if typically applied to the first years production, all new cars could be (incorrectly) cited as selling at a loss.

 

[Ladogaboy]

According to my reservation sheet, invoice for an LT is $35,155.20.

 

[Bacardi]

People also aren't accounting for the exposure being in NYE that could be part of the lower price...We could debate if the long range Bolt is even the best GM PHEV vehicle since the Volt is cheaper and despite the Spark EV no longer in production, there still enough on the dealer lots to meet NYCs quota...

I do not believe the Bolt EV costs more to produce than its invoice and I wish if GM is making a profit they do announce it to set the record straight...Then again if nothing else this $9K loss story is exposure and now people are believing they're buying a higher priced car...

Bolt does appear to have higher average R&D costs, remember the Bolt EV started out on the sonic/spark platform and at that evolved into its own platform...Doesn't sound cheap to abandon/evolve an entire platform but now they gained a new platform that can be used for other vehicles...Same goes for its "volume maximization" project, doesn't sound cheap but all that R&D can be carried to other GM vehicles...Lastly, the aluminum use, all the knowledge gained can be carried over to more vehicles and many are reporting that the next Gen Silverado will have extensive aluminum...Lastly like I pointed out, the latest Gen Subaru Impreza, took $1B just to DEVELOP...http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...IxTekapSwgOLJotOZEKtEQ&bvm=bv.142059868,d.amc

 

[Tomt]

Remember that, with incentives and bonuses, dealers actually pay well below invoice...

According to my reservation sheet, invoice for an LT is $35,155.20.