https://www.forbes.com/sites/brookecrothers/2017/09/30/as-chevy-is-tested-by-tesla-tale-of-two-bolt-dealers-los-angeles-vs-philadelphia/#3ee9e6fc5e46 Tale Of Two (Very Different) Chevy Bolt Dealers: Los Angeles Vs. Philadelphia Sep 30, 2017 Brooke Crothers
[images / Brooke Crothers https://blogs-images.forbes.com/brookecrothers/files/2017/01/chevy-bolt-rydell-white-1200x900.jpg Lots of 2017 Chevy Bolts at Los Angeles Chevy dealer https://blogs-images.forbes.com/brookecrothers/files/2017/09/chevy-del-chevrolet-small-edit.jpg There was one Bolt on this dealer's lot. And two salesmen said there was no local interest in EVs ] Two Chevy dealers on either coast are a study in contrast. One sells lots of Bolts, the other doesn't. The problem is, the former is the exception not the rule. In August, Chevy delivered 2,052 Bolt EVs. Tesla has stated (PDF) that it plans to increase Model 3 production to 10,000 vehicles per week at some point in 2018 and has (had) over 450,000 reservations. But even if Tesla doesn't achieve those production targets, as short sellers are betting (see "Tesla is structurally unprofitable"), it's almost certainly going to flood the market with more mass-market Teslas in the coming months and years as it expands its dealer network and charging infrastructure. Chevy dealer (Los Angeles): ready for an EV future. The Chevy dealer near my home in northwest Los Angeles is the exception. It has a ton (typically about 80 on its various lots) of Bolts on hand and sells as many as 50 or 60 a month. I visit this dealer regularly (which includes service for my own Chevy Volt) and the whole dealership has been retrofitted and staffed for the age of the electric car: it's got close to a dozen charging stations, including DC fast charging, and most salespeople are well-versed in electric cars. But, I repeat, this dealer is the exception not the rule. Chevy dealer (suburban Philadelphia): the past. I spend two months out of the year in suburban Philadelphia, from where I just returned. The Chevy dealer I visited in the western reaches of the Main Line (a string of towns that run west from Philadelphia) could not have been more different. They had one solitary Bolt on the lot (and a couple of used Volts on the used car lot -- but no new Volts that I could see). Let me insert a parenthetical here: I realize sales of the Bolt only began this spring or summer in many states, including Pennsylvania. That said, we're now heading into October. By now, that dealer could have stocked up on more Bolts if there was any demand. And that was my first question to the two sales people I ran into on the lot: Is there any demand? Where are all of the Bolts? Answer: No interest and no demand. That's the short answer. They spent the next few minutes explaining that a day could arrive when more consumers were interested in EVs. But they didn't say when that future would get here. Hmm...It's almost 2018. We're already in the EV future. Let me add that this suburban Philadelphia Chevy dealer's lot was, of course, crowded with every other ICE (internal combustion engine) Chevy under the sun, including best-selling Chevy pickups, SUVs, and sedans. But even 2017 Sparks and Sonics (hardly big sellers) were well represented, despite the lack of Bolts and Volts. Dearth of advertising: You can't just preach to the choir through targeted Internet Chevy Bolt ads (most buyers of EVs have already done gobs of research on the Web). You've got to expose the general American public living in outlying areas to EVs, otherwise they just dismiss it as an automotive oddity and dealer salespeople will ignore it. I've never seen any national TV advertising for the Bolt. I'm sure GM believes it has valid reasons for not pushing the Bolt in high-profile national TV ad campaigns, but I don't get it (I've asked GM this question many times in the past). If GM is not going to push a great groundbreaking car like the Bolt (easily one of GM's best cars and one of the best EVs on the planet right now) in national ads at a time when it has the affordable 200-plus-mile-range-market almost completely to itself, how serious -- relative to its stable of ICE cars -- is it about selling EVs? GM is an ICE vehicle manufacturer: GM CEO Mary Barra talks a great EV game (and GM PR of course will say all the right things) but it rings hollow when you walk onto a GM dealer lot with a sea of ICE vehicles and no EVs in sight. And I wonder if most GM dealers across the country see EVs as little more than a tiny, uninteresting niche market. I'll check back with that suburban Philadelphia Chevy dealer in six months and see if the future has arrived. But I kinda doubt it. [© forbes.com] For EVLN EV-newswire posts use: http://evdl.org/evln/ {brucedp.neocities.org} -- Sent from: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/ _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
