The Chevrolet Bolt battery-electric vehicle is currently costing some buyers around $20K. And a new generation is about to begin arriving at dealers.
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The Chevrolet Bolt is a marketplace failure in one sense. Although the vehicle makes many buyers quite happy, dealers are pushing the cars off lots with five-figure discounts. Quirk Chevrolet in Braintree, Massachusetts is offering $13,000 off the price of a new Chevrolet Bolt LT right now. They say that they have 90 Chevy Bolts available. After federal and state incentives, that brings the cost to the buyer down to just $20,120. Mirak Chevrolet and Herb Connolly Chevrolet in Massachusetts are both offering $11,498 off the price of a Chevy Bolt LT. All of these deals are visible at the Mass. DriveGreen website. The prices are good through the end of this month (April 1st, 2020). The prices include delivery fees.
Whenever a new generation overlaps the outgoing generation, dealers are faced with a dilemma. They now have the same model on hand in two different versions. The typical move is to discount the older generation aggressively, often with the manufacturer’s support. That creates deals. However, the current Chevy Bolt is already a screaming deal at a cost of $20K to the buyer. Imagine how much deeper the discounts will have to be to move older Bolts off the lot when the new and improved ones arrive.
Related Story: Chevy Dealers Discount Bolts More Than $20K In Race With Tesla For Bottom Of Market
New Chevy Bolts Could Cost Just $15K
That leads up to our story premise. New, never driven, Chevy Bolts in some markets with state incentives may actually end up costing less than the current $20K when the new Bolts show up. Will dealers make the end cost as low as $15K? We can’t say for sure. However, despite the federal tax credit reductions for GM, the Chevy Bolt has maintained its extremely low cost now for over a year.
New Bolt Coming - Changes Listed Here
GM showed off a new-generation Chevrolet Bolt at a recent electric vehicle dog and pony show. The new Chevy Bolt is described by Inside EVs as having a vastly improved interior design and a new grill. With a new, improved look and feel, the new Bolt is going to overshadow the old. Will that put downward pressure on the already massively-discounted Bolt? How can it not do so?
What’s your prediction? Will the new Chevy Bolt create some smoking hot deals on the outgoing (current) generation of the Bolt when it arrives in late 2020? If you are a Bolt shopper, what’s your strategy to ensure you get the best deal possible? Ours is to watch the Green Energy Consumers' Alliance Website for deals.
John Goreham is a life-long car nut and recovering engineer. John's focus areas are technology, safety, and green vehicles. In the 1990s, he was part of a team that built a solar-electric vehicle from scratch. His was the role of battery thermal control designer. For 20 years he applied his engineering and sales talents in the high tech world and published numerous articles in technical journals such as Chemical Processing Magazine. In 2008 he retired from that career and dedicated himself to chasing his dream of being an auto writer. In addition to Torque News, John's work has appeared in print in dozens of American newspapers and he provides reviews to many vehicle shopping sites. You can follow John on Twitter, and connect with him at Linkedin.
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I'm hoping that they reduce
I'm hoping that they reduce the MSRP of the 2021 Bolt by at least $5k. The new Bolt would then be competitive with other similar EVs and there might be little or no discounting for a while That would mean the current deals on Bolts will remain attractive without further discounting. Think of the 2021 Bolt as simply a more premium version with an additional $5k price tag, like the difference between an LT and Premier. For some people, the updates won't be worth an additional $5k. So, no, I don't see 2020 Bolts going for $15k.
I also think that the base
I also think that the base price for the Bolt will drop, but the net price will be the same or higher than today. GM has had to offer discounts on Bolts to keep sales strong, as they don't have the $7500 federal subsidies that new EV makers have. But the Chevy Volt probably is a good example of how GM dropped the MSRP over time to keep sale numbers up. The Volt started out at $40K base MSRP, but over time dropped to $35K, and then the Gen II Volt started out at the new lower price and dropped to $33K, while adding features and improvements. There will be a renewed interest in the Bolt with the refreshed 2021 model, as there is a refresh and many improvements inside. So I think that the 2021 Bolt will start out at the current price, and once the larger Bolt EUV is announced it will be offered for around the current Bolt's price before discounts, and then drop over time to stay competitive. But I think that today's prices are the lowest that we will see for the Bolt except for clearing out older inventory.