Chevy Bolt Pulls Clearly Ahead of Volt With November Sales

Once again, the Chevrolet Bolt EV raised its all-time high sales with 2,987 deliveries in November, putting its extended-range electric Volt sibling clearly in its rear-view mirror.

The Volt sold 1,702 units, and with one month to go this year, the Bolt has 20,070 sales, and the Volt has 18,412.

October had been the first month this year the Bolt came from behind after its nationwide rollout completed this summer. The Volt has basically been underperforming all year, while the Bolt has outdone itself. Through October the Bolt established a modest 373-unit lead thanks to 2,781 sales to the Volt’s 1,362, and now the gap has widened to 1,658.

These are relatively small margins and numbers for a company whose bread-and-butter vehicles sell upwards of 9,000 or well over that monthly, but the Bolt’s lead is symbolic or indicative of something in the sub-category of zero/low emissions cars.

The Bolt keeps setting new all-time highs, and the Volt has dwindled and is nowhere near to being on track to matching the 24,739 sales it documented last year.

For that matter, it would be quite a stretch for the Bolt to match the Volt’s record set last year either, unless Chevrolet manages to push 4,669 Bolt EVs out the door.

Typically, December is a month of the highest or near highest sales for plug-in cars as it’s right before the beginning of tax filing season for those wishing to recoup plug-in credits, so we shall see.

Meanwhile the Volt continues on with its fans. To what degree the Bolt is cannibalizing sales from the Volt is not quantifiable, but that some people have opted to go with the all-electric Chevy instead of part time electric is clear.

The Bolt is also roomier, a true five seater, quicker with 0-60 in 6.5 seconds instead of low-mid 8s, and gives Volt drivers more of what they wanted – all-electric driving, albeit it has no range extender, so it is not as ready to fly across the country as the Volt, for those to whom this matters.

With 238 miles EV range, the Bolt does work for many more people than one of the current 80-124 mile EVs in its segment, and its sales bear this out.

GM also does not advertise the Bolt or Volt to any great degree, and both are early placeholders in GM’s efforts to satisfy California ZEV rules in a market that has yet to fully heat up.

Looking ahead, unconfirmed rumors are the Volt may not see a third generation, and could be replaced by a crossover version. The Bolt on the other hand is a basis for 20 EVs due by 2023, said GM.

Given the support, and way things are shaping up in the market, GM may be just as happy to let the Bolt run ahead, and the Volt lag behind as it’s already said where it sees the future of its low-emissions vehicles – pure electric.