Bolt inventory decreasing

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HGTZ

HGTZ

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Bolt sales have been steadily increasing to 2,781 copies in October. On Oct. 24 Domenick posted the available inventory at 4,571 cars.
Domenick said:
4,571 new Bolts available on Cars.com
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I have been watching the Bolt inventory in Cars.com decrease about 40 cars a day.
Today, a month later, there are 3,761 New Chevrolet Bolt EVs for sale.
My questions would be:
Is the Bolt selling more cars than are being produced? This would be Great News!
Is GM shipping outside the USA more Bolts/Ampera e's? Also Good News.
Or are they keeping production down waiting for MY 2018?
Anybody has any idea of the Bolt Production Numbers?
 
I'm just speculating here, but some of the discussion in the "Bolt EV Rollout: Rough start or smooth sailing?" thread appears to be relevant here.

In particular:

WadeTyhon said:
The other thing is that there were no opportunities to build inventory initially. Many Bolts were actually reserved ahead of time, including by people from out of state.
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If most or all of the initial reservations have been satisfied, and I would guess that by now they have been, then that could allow inventory levels to come down closer to the number that dealers would need on their lots. If WadeTyhon is right, and I think he is, then those inventory levels were inflated for a few months by units which were listed as inventory, but which were not actually available for anyone other than the person who reserved it.

I'm not suggesting that is the only reason why inventory levels are coming down, but perhaps that's part of the reason.
 
Pushmi-Pullyu said:
I'm not suggesting that is the only reason why inventory levels are coming down, but perhaps that's part of the reason.
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I agree that this is a potential contributor. There would have been plenty of reservations to get through during the national rollout. And GM would need to both fill those orders and get additional into dealers. So numbers were inflated over the summer due to the national rollout. These inflated numbers led to the mass confusion that huge Bolt EV inventories led to the shut down of the plant. (this was not the case at all.)

I think the other potential reasons I can think of for a drop in inventory:

- GM EV sales always surge in november and December. Expect 3,000+ sales for each month easily.

- 2017 MY is coming to a close, meaning discounts from dealers to clear out 2017 stock.

-Fear of the possible (but unlikely) loss of the EV rebate may push demand higher than GM supply.

- The early months of the new year usually have lower EV sales (and all car sales). GM will not need to have quite as many vehicles in inventory in Q1 as they do in Q3 and Q4.
 
Bolt inventory keeps decreasing. As of today 11/27/2017 cars.com has 3,631 New Chevrolet Bolt EVs for sale.
Only 60 cars have the "Just Added" flag, which in about 3 days is removed.
My guess is that either GM is not shipping new inventory or the GM dealers are not ordering more cars waiting for MY 2018.
 
HGTZ said:
Bolt inventory keeps decreasing. As of today 11/27/2017 cars.com has 3,631 New Chevrolet Bolt EVs for sale.
Only 60 cars have the "Just Added" flag, which in about 3 days is removed.
My guess is that either GM is not shipping new inventory or the GM dealers are not ordering more cars waiting for MY 2018.
Click to expand...

Just checked, now 3,475.
 
Looks like the Bolt inventory is leveling around 3,400 units
Historical inventory
Oct. 24 4,571 cars
Nov. 24 3,761 cars
Nov. 27 3,631 cars
Dec. 5 3,475 cars
Dec. 11 3,397 cars
It will be interesting to see how low the inventory can get during the December Sales Rush!
 
Bolt inventory levels keep coming down.
It should be around 30 days supply.
Dec. 18 3,279 cars
 
GM had a lease special in California for the last 2-3 months. People were driving off at $89-129/month with absolutely zero down.
Unfortunately, dealers ran out of inventory, GM revised their one pay lease agreement and reduced incentives.
 
JyChevyVolt said:
GM had a lease special in California for the last 2-3 months. People were driving off at $89-129/month with absolutely zero down.
Unfortunately, dealers ran out of inventory, GM revised their one pay lease agreement and reduced incentives.
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A $200/month lease in Texas would be great! We don't have anything close to those California specials!
No wonder why they ran out of inventory.
 
The Bolt inventory keeps going down.
GM is still confirming deliveries of MY2017
Still no sign of MY2018.
Is GM going to wait until January to confirm deliveries of MY2018?
Historical inventory
Oct. 24 4,571 cars
Nov. 24 3,761 cars
Nov. 27 3,631 cars
Dec. 5 3,475 cars
Dec. 11 3,397 cars
Dec. 15 3,367 cars
Dec. 18 3,279 cars
Dec. 22 3,212 cars
 
I believe at least a few hundred sales could be attributed to the possibility of the EV Federal credit going away in the GOP tax bill...
 
During the first days of January Bolt inventory went as low as 2,200 units.
It has been going up to the mid 2,500's but still no MY2018.
With low inventory of MY2017 and no MY2018 to sell, the most likely scenario is a Big Drop in Sales!
My only guess is that GM is trying to sell all its inventory of MY2017 Bolts during the current "Employee Pricing" campaign, and waiting to release MY2018 once it ends.
Any thoughts?
 
HGTZ said:
During the first days of January Bolt inventory went as low as 2,200 units.
It has been going up to the mid 2,500's but still no MY2018.
With low inventory of MY2017 and no MY2018 to sell, the most likely scenario is a Big Drop in Sales!
My only guess is that GM is trying to sell all its inventory of MY2017 Bolts during the current "Employee Pricing" campaign, and waiting to release MY2018 once it ends.
Any thoughts?
Click to expand...

In this other thread, @WadeTyhon says he asked Buzz Smith (works at a dealership in Texas) about the situation and was told that they aren't in production just yet, but very soon.
 
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