Featured Jalopnik reviews 2018 Bolt

like it, but it should be a little bigger with less range to be a town car.

 

Looks a lot like a Matrix (aka Pontiac Vibe), in a good way.

 

for us what's missing? 3 words
infrastructure infrastructure infrastructure.
.

 

Bolt seems like a decent little car. The only problem I see with it is that its direct competitors are between $12k-22k, so it's coming in a little heavy at $38k.

Hopefully they can get it down over time?

 

functioning fast chargers, functioning fast chargers, functioning fast chargers.
.

 

netting at 22k around these parts. not sure what you can get for 12.

 

I'm comparing it to other 4-door subcompact hatchbacks:

Accent, Sonic, Versa, Mirage, Prius c, Yaris...

any others to throw in?

 

i just don't think you can compare a bev to anything else, except another bev in the same price range. i don't think people are shopping like that yet.

 

The Mirage and Spark are at least a size class smaller than the Bolt. The other $12k car is the Versa sedan, and it is a manual only stripper. The Bolt is better equipped than all of them.

Yes the ICE cars are much cheaper, but BEVs have come down in price, greatly. The first Leaf, with its @80 miles of range, started around the same price as the Bolt, with nearly three times the range, when new.

I think the people looking at a BEV would be shopping pricier cars than a Sonic if the BEV wasn't available.

 

If and when Tesla 3 $35K model starts shipping, Bolt will not be a very good choice for roughly the same price. It may be a perfectly good BEV, but next to M3 it just looks ridiculous.

 

gm will drop the price, same way toyota did on the prime. if they are interested in selling them. but i'm not sure how interested they are. might just depend on the need for carb credits.

but first, tesla has to produce a lot of 35k m3's, and probably without the $7,500. credit, which puts gm in the drivers seat for awhile.

unless we get a new congress by then.

 

Thanks for the clarifications on the cars I had listed. The only other ones I could think of were the Kia Rio & Honda Fit. I've sort of lost track of what that does to the price range I'd suggested, but it still leaves the Bolt way off the high end.

Open ended question: what has to change for that to be a $19,000 car with average profitability to GM?

 

The calendar....

in a fair and just world, BEVs ought to be a little cheaper than the comparably equipped ICE car....which makes sense because until the infrastructure matures, they're just plain not going to be as capable as the comparably equipped ICE car for many (now.....most) buyers.
Patience.
Gas and oil burners didn't evolve over night, and neither will BEVs.

Early adopters are buying the $1500 Betamax version this year.....and pretty soon the prices will start a tumblin...and you'll have to pay an ICE premium for the privilege of not being tethered to a charger.

The next leap after that will occur when it's cheaper and just as fast to charge, and the next one after that?

Who knows?
Inductive charging on roads and parking paved with solar panels?

These are early days.....

 

beating nissan though, and if you take out the non bev's, their in 4th!

when you consider all the bev's being touted by their manufacturers ?(see the full sales report list)
it's a lott better than the pretenders.

 

i doubt anyone can answer that without inside knowledge, and companies have many ways to manipulate 'profit'.
if you mean net selling price after tax credits, rebates and discounts, they're not far off. if you mean msrp, i hope to live so long.