The 2017 Chevy Bolt outsold the Tesla Model 3 by 65 to 1 in July.
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The 2017 Chevy Bolt outsold the Tesla Model 3 by 65 to 1 in July. With sales of 1,971 units, the Bolt outsold each of the three Tesla models, the Chevy Volt and also the Toyota Prius Prime. The Nissan Leaf remains mired in sixth place and is the last model really worth mentioning in terms of sales. No other EV can sustain sales above 1,000 units per month.
Chevy Bolt Sales vs. Competitors
The Chevrolet Bolt EV has now earned 9,563 unit sales in 2017, which places it in fifth place in year to date electric vehicle sales behind the tied for first Tesla model S and Chevy Volt, the third place Toyota Prius Prime, and the Tesla Model X. Inside EVs estimates that in July Tesla sold 30 Model 3 sedans. That includes the first Model 3, which Elon Musk did not donate to charity, or give to a customer holding a reservation, but rather, accepted as his own.
Chevy Bolt Expanded Markets
Over the past couple of months, Chevy has expanded the market in which it sells the Bolt beyond just California. Given that the Bolt has been market-limited its sales are very impressive. The Bolt is now available coast to coast with dealers in such markets as Rhode Island now holding inventory of close to 100 units per dealership.
Chevy is also moving fast to cover the entire U.S. market. GM says the Bolt will be available throughout the U.S. in this month of August. A bit earlier than originally planned. That will not happen for the Model 3 until 2018.
Chevy Bolt's Advantages Over Tesla Model 3
The one big advantage Chevy has over the Tesla Model 3 is price. The Bolt is now selling for about $4K less than base Tesla Model 3 units will (if any are ever sold). As Tesla begins to equip the Model 3 with creature comforts the Bolt will have a huge price advantage and the cars will end up serving different market segments. The Tesla Model 3 will be priced in the high $30Ks with premium, relatively expensive small cars, and the Bolt will remain priced with economy cars in the low $20Ks after incentives. The Bolt's available market is simply larger than the Model 3's is.
Chevy Bolt Advertisements
Chevy and its dealership network are also starting to promote the Bolt EV. As the TV spot below shows, GM will promote the Bolt EV heavily now that it is a viable model for sale from inventory. Tesla does not expect to have available inventory for the Model 3 until about 2019 after its substantial reservations have been filled. It took Tesla two years to fill the Model X reservations and those were for only 20,000 vehicles. Tesla has hundreds of thousands of Model 3 reservations.
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Really? Model S sold at 2
Really? Model S sold at 2,770 in July and Model X almost sold as much as Bolt at 1,883. So the statement that Bolt "outsold more than each of the Tesla models" is falst. To mention Model 3 sales which just begun to Bolt is totally misleading. In my rural area, my Chevy dealer does not sell Bolts because they say it costs them thousands of dollars to do so. This is the same reason that my Ford dealer does not sell any electric vehicles. It seems that the writer has a very strong bias against Tesla by saying "(if any are ever sold)" when they have ~400,000 reservations.
You are mistaken regarding
You are mistaken regarding Tesla sales. The article is about U.S. market sales. Your Tesla figures are global I believe. Click the Inside Evs link for details. We mentioned the hundreds of thousands of Model 3 reservations in the story. The part about "If any are ever sold" refers to the fact that the general public has not been allowed to buy a Model 3 yet. Only 30 Tesla, Inc. employees and stakeholders have Model 3 cars to date. Thanks for checking in.
Yes, John wrote correct sales
Yes, John wrote correct sales numbers. Yes, he is biased against Tesla, we can see that from the article. But that is OK. Let's wait until early 2018 and compare the numbers again.
We don't need to wait until
We don't need to wait until early 2018. According to CNBC, 2017 through June, Chevy Bolt had 16% of market share of battery EVs same as Tesla Model X and Model S has almost 30% of market share. Amazing that the more expensive Tesla has similar market share to the more affordable Bolt.
OK, the Bolt has the time
OK, the Bolt has the time advantage now. Let's wait a year and you write an article about why GM cannot sell as many Bolts as Model 3s sold.
Is it so bad that Elon Musk
Is it so bad that Elon Musk purchased the first Model 3? Perhaps if other auto CEOs actually purchased their lower price models and drove them, problems such as with ignition issues and air bags would have been detected earlier and fixed?
According to Elon, the model
According to Elon, the model 3 that he owns was purchased by a friend who donated it to him. He even has better friends than most.
The first model 3 was
The first model 3 was purchased by Ira Ehrenpreis. He's a Tesla board member. No doubt also a friend to Elon Musk. You can read more here about that: https://www.torquenews.com/1083/400000-paid-customers-waiting-tesla-model-3-elon-musk-takes-first-one