Chevy Bolt - assembly plant "idled" as inventory levels too high?

n97 mini

That's the claim around 1 minute 20 into this video. Anyone else heard about this?

By all accounts it's the best EV we can't buy. If it was available here (in RHD) I'd snap one up in a heartbeat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2ogGZXmepY

cros13

That's not correct. The Bolt shares it's line with the Chevy Sonic (when Chevy/Daewoo were in Ireland this was the Aveo). Demand for the Chevy Sonic is very weak and the line is being reconfigured to output more Bolts.
Also LG Chem has slowed output at the Holland Michigan plant while new lines are constructed and hiring goes on to bring the plant up to it's nameplate capacity (a 50% rise above current production)

There are several global markets very willing to take as many Bolts/Ampera-e as can be produced. The waiting lists in South Korea (as the Bolt) and Norway (as the Ampera-e) are over a year. Demand is weak in some US markets... but that's largely the fault of Chevy's EV-hostile dealer network.

KCross

Are they making money on selling the Bolt?

Wasn't it suggested some time back that they were losing money on them and it was more a compliance car than something they wanted to actually sell.

cros13

KCross wrote: »

Are they making money on selling the Bolt?

Wasn't it suggested some time back that they were losing money on them and it was more a compliance car than something they wanted to actually sell.

Definitely got a positive margin on it, so extra unit sales would help pay down R&D at least. But certainly not a very profitable car for them. But management needs to Bolt to sell to show shareholders that GM has a viable future in an electrified world.

So, there are two competing interests in upper management. One is the classic GM group that want to operate as normal and maximise profits by pushing high margin trucks & SUVs and the other group (a scattering of high and mid-level managers) looks at the future, what they see scares them, and they are pushing various headless-chicken-style plans involving as many buzzworthy terms as they can stuff in like electric, autonomous and ride-sharing. Then there's CEO Mary Barra stuck in the middle, looking across at what happened to Mark Fields (who despite continuing to post profits was ousted in no small part due to investor nervousness that Ford was failing to modernise).

Add to this melting pot of misery the new companies GM has acquired/partnered with to give it at least the window dressing of competency in autonomy (Cruise Automation) and ride-sharing (Lyft). Cruise and GM are suffering a major culture clash and having a difficult time hanging on to their best engineers. The Lyft partnership is constantly talked up but has yet to show any real results, it's an open question whether Lyft will even survive the next 5 years.

The Bolt/Ampera-e was effectively entirely outsourced with design work being done by the former Daewoo design office in South Korea (renamed GM Korea in 2011) and LG Chem building practically half the car (and 90% of the important bits). GM has seen no real buy-in from US-based managers for electrification. And then on top of all this is the dealer situation.

zilog_jones

At least they seem to be doing a better job than Ford in terms of EVs - I keep forgetting the Focus Electric even exists. And I guess no RHD for that either?

cros13

zilog_jones wrote: »

At least they seem to be doing a better job than Ford in terms of EVs - I keep forgetting the Focus Electric even exists. And I guess no RHD for that either?

Actually they offer the Focus Electric in the UK. It's ~£32k and practically a state secret that it exists. I've never seen one in person outside the US.

ELM327

cros13 wrote: »

Actually they offer the Focus Electric in the UK. It's ~£32k and practically a state secret that it exists. I've never seen one in person outside the US.

Apparently they now offer DC charging with 100kW capability

cros13

ELM327 wrote: »

Apparently they now offer DC charging with 100kW capability

They have CCS rapid charging that actually works up to ~60kW. Until this year's update the Focus had no rapid charging. And of course it's more expensive than an i3, and the boot is tiny, and it handles like crap 'cause the weight distribution is thrown off by the battery pack in the rear. So yeah... complete mystery why they're not selling.

ELM327

cros13 wrote: »

They have CCS rapid charging that actually works up to ~60kW. Until this year's update the Focus had no rapid charging. And of course it's more expensive than an i3, and the boot is tiny, and it handles like crap 'cause the weight distribution is thrown off by the battery pack in the rear. So yeah... complete mystery why they're not selling.

Yes I was aware of the non-rapid charging model. It was on fully charged a few years ago. It said in the brochure that it would be 0-80% in 30 minutes at a 100kW charger so I thought therefore it was 100kW DC.

What a silly car, don't know why they bothered!!

If only the Focus EV didn't have the tragic battery located in the boot. I mean who in their right mind builds a family hatchback with tiny usable boot space? And keeps building it for years.

Otherwise the Focus Electric seems quite an good car really.