Alt Energy Autos: Chevy Volt Quarterly And Monthly Sales Way Up, Chevy Bolt Rising

Tuesday, October 2, 2018

Chevy Volt Quarterly And Monthly Sales Way Up, Chevy Bolt Rising

2019 Chevy Volt arriving at dealerships now with major improvements

Unfortunately, due to General Motors’ recent decision to withhold monthly sales reports in favor of a Tesla-like quarterly reporting system, the following Chevy Bolt EV and Chevy Volt numbers are estimates.

This information is important to our readers and a testament to what we’ve been doing for some time. So, we have attempted to provide you with our best estimates. Our numbers are primarily based upon daily inventory tracking, as well as accounts from buyers, dealers and other sources.

Bolt inventories in the U.S. were weak throughout the entire 2018 model year. GM has been prioritizing exports of the popular electric hatchback, particularly to South Korea. So much so that 2018 international GM plug-in sales have eclipsed domestic for the first time ever.

As a result, between March and July, the Chevy Volt has significantly edged out the Bolt EV in sales. For instance, in July we estimated 1,475 Chevy Volts and 1,175 Bolt EVs made their way to buyers. In August, we saw a sales increase of both models with an estimated 1,225 Bolt EV’s and 1,825 Volt’s delivered.

For Q3, Chevrolet reports quarterly deliveries of 3,949 for the Chevy Bolt EV and 5,429 for the Chevy Volt.

So for the month of September, we estimate 1,549 Chevy Bolt EVs and 2,129 Chevy Volts were delivered to owners.

Chevrolet Bolt EV in Maven’s first all-electric fleet of shared vehicles for freelance driving launched in Austin, Texas.

Chevy Bolt inventories are strong heading into Q4

For the past two quarters, Chevy Bolt EV inventories have hovered between 2,000 and 2,750 units according to Cars.com. By late July, we began to see an uptick to about 2,900. In the last 2 weeks over of August, inventories were looking much stronger, averaging around 3,200 units. This is important since we had not seen Bolt inventories reach this level since February, 2018. The last time the Bolt cracked 3k was 3,003 units was on March 7th.

Well in September, this rush of product continued. Within 3 weeks, Bolt inventories at or in transit to dealers is now well above 4,000 units. These numbers still are not as high as Q4 2017, but the vehicle is looking much better stocked for the holiday sales rush. Smart consumers will take their new vehicles home before the end of the year. GM is expected to hit 200k U.S. Plug-In sales in Q4 2018. Not coincidentally, Bolt EV production will be increased 20% in Q4. According to GM:

U.S. and global demand for the Chevrolet Bolt EV has been very strong in 2018, with global sales estimated to be up more than 35 percent year over year in the second quarter and up more than 40 percent in the first half. In response, GM is increasing fourth quarter production by more than 20 percent compared to the average of the first three quarters.

We have seen some welcome changes to the 2018/2019 Bolt in the form of revised front seats and a user defined target charge level. The Volt will also receive several major improvements for its mid-cycle refresh. Optional 7.2 kW charging and power driver seats just to name a few. These updates should help the cars stay competitive in the second half of the year.