Featured Bolt in Korea and California

Source: AD #2071 – Glut of New & Used Cars, Toyota’s Big Apple Debuts, Custom Citroen DS’s – Autoline Daily

The Chevy Bolt EV isn’t officially on sale in South Korea. Not just yet. It makes its official debut at the Seoul auto show next week. But EV enthusiasts are well aware of the car. Wards Auto reports that the company started taking pre-orders last Friday and sold out the entire shipment in less than two hours. That was the first shipment of 400 cars. Chevy took in 2000 preorders and placed a new order immediately to get more Bolts on the boat. The car starts at nearly $40,000 in South Korea but thanks to generous EV subsidies the price drops to only $20,000.​

More details: http://wardsauto.com/engines/koreans-snap-first-imported-bolt-evs-2-hours

Source: AD #2072 – China’s Chery Takes on Mercedes, Bolt EVs Big Discounts, Sweet Patina Spotted in Santa Barbara – Autoline Daily

Yesterday we reported about how EV enthusiasts in South Korea are snapping up the Chevy Bolt even though it hasn’t officially debuted in the country yet. But car buyers in the U.S. aren’t as giddy over the car. Automotive News reports, that a number of Chevy dealers in California have slashed the price of the car by as much as $3,000. And when government incentives are factored in, buyers are getting the Bolt for around $25,000 about $5,000 less than GM was hoping for. TrueCar data shows that nationally on average, buyers paid $2,200 less than the sticker price in February, which is up from $1,400 in January. This is not a good sign since the Bolt has only been on sale in a few states for several months. And the company still faces competition from Tesla, which plans to start selling the Model 3 later this year.​

More details: http://www.autonews.com/article/20170320/OEM05/303209973/for-chevy-bolt-discounts-here-markups-there

This article suggests the Bolt was mostly a Korean design and batteries so there may be local pride.

I appreciate the irony:

• Prius Prime - sold-out in California yet discounts East coast
• Bolt - sold-out in Korea yet discounts California

Bob Wilson