The Chevrolet Bolt, the proletariat machine that beat his nascent Model 3 to market by the better part of a year, is, well, not bolting at all. In the past six months, U. S. customers bought about three times as many Cadillac…<\/b>
\nElon Musk\u2019s perpetual joker grin is probably a little wider today. The Chevrolet Bolt, the proletariat machine that beat his nascent Model 3 to market by the better part of a year, is, well, not bolting at all.
Creeping would be a better word.
After six months on the market, only 6,529 Bolts have found their way out of dealerships and into the wild. That\u2019s far less than sales of the all-electric Nissan Leaf and either of the existing Tesla models over the same period.
Meanwhile, the most esoteric beasts in the GM family are running circles around the runty Bolt. In the past six months, U. S. customers bought about three times as many Cadillac Escalades and double the number of Corvettes \u2014both paragons of a niche vehicle.
\u201cI wouldn\u2019 t necessarily call it a slow rollout; it was a phased rollout, \u201d said Chevrolet spokesman Jim Cain . \u201cIn terms of sales, I think we\u2019 re right on plan.\u201d
During a visit to Chevrolet\u2019s electric-vehicle factory just outside Detroit in December, it was spitting out about 100 Bolts a day. The sales of the past few months, however, wouldn\u2019 t support that level of production. And thanks to GM, Chevrolet dealers will still be waiting on their first Bolts in July, when Tesla promises to pull the cover off its similarly priced Model 3.
Make no mistake, the Bolt isn\u2019 t a bad car. In fact, it\u2019s quite good. In addition to its historic metrics on range and price, the Bolt handles well, accelerates easily, and offers plenty of space and amenities in its bubbly cockpit. It\u2019s being held back though by cheap gas and SUV fever.
Holm Automotive Center in Abilene, Kan., (pretty much the geographic center of the country) has had only one inquiry on the Bolt and doesn\u2019 t have any plans to stock the car. \u201cWe are a truck and SUV market, \u201d said sales consultant Michelle Holt .
However, the electric car is also being hamstrung by General Motors. The company is rolling the vehicle out at a snail\u2019s pace. At the end of April, the Bolt was still only available in eight states \u2014 all on the coast. GM added another eight states in May and says the cars won\u2019 t be available nationwide until late summer.
\u201cThe term I would use is slow and steady, \u201d said Marc Cannon, a spokesman for AutoNation, the country\u2019s largest dealership group. \u201cThey\u2019 re making sure they meet the needs of early adopters and they\u2019 re taking their time doing it.\u201d
To be sure, would-be customers venting on message boards about not being able to buy a Bolt isn\u2019 t a terrible PR problem; it\u2019s far less damaging than passers by seeing legions of Bolts stacking up at dealerships like sad sedans in a Hertz lot. At this point, the Bolt is still an exercise in R&D and marketing. It has first-mover advantage and bragging rights over Musk despite the fact that there are far more Ferraris on U. S. roads at the moment.
\u201cIf you look at our competitive set, it will be quite some time before any of them have a vehicle that comes close to this in terms of capabilities, \u201d Chevy\u2019s Cain contends.
Capabilities aside, the Bolt is still a financial drain on GM. UBS analysts estimate that the automaker is losing about $7,500 on every one it sells, thanks to the machine\u2019s $12,000 battery pack and another $580 worth of semiconductors \u2014 roughly 10 times the amount found in a traditional car car.
\u201cHonestly, I don\u2019 t think I\u2019 ve seen a single commercial for the Bolt, \u201d said UBS analyst Colin Langan . \u201cThey have a great starting point, but I don\u2019 t think they\u2019 re pushing volume today.\u201d
Eventually, Langan said, the Bolt will be used as the platform for GM\u2019s autonomous-driving program. What\u2019s clear in the interim, however \u2014 and what should be a bit worrisome to GM \u2014 is that introduction of the Bolt has been pretty humdrum, and not just in terms of sales. The little car hasn\u2019 t captured any of Tesla\u2019s Silicon Valley street cred and it hasn\u2019 t whipped up any of the cultish following that still benefits the Toyota Prius. It isn\u2019 t a Hollywood accessory on the red-carpet circuit.
The Bolt is a historic vehicle \u2014 a time-machine in a way \u2014 but it\u2019s just the latest in a long line of them. In five years, streets will be full of cars like the Bolt; whether they are made by Chevrolet remains to be seen.<\/p>\n

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