Chevy Bolt EV sales are slumping in the US, GM says production going to Canada and South Korea

GM is scheduled to increase production of the Chevy Bolt EV by the end of the year, but sales are slumping in the US in the meantime.

The automaker says that it is because they are focusing production for other markets.

Like Tesla, GM decided to stop giving monthly sale numbers and only release quarterly numbers.

We stop tracking monthly Bolt EV sales because of it, but now the automaker has released U.S. sales for the last quarter and the results are somewhat disappointing.

GM delivered 3,949 Bolt EVs during  the last three months versus 6,710 units during the same period last year. That’s a 41.1% decrease in sales in the U.S., the biggest market for GM’s flagship all-electric vehicle.

Jim Cain, GM spokesman, said that it was because they are “diverting production” to other markets (via CNBC):

“The decline is more a function of us diverting production to Canada and South Korea, coupled with low stocks in the U.S. We’re still proceeding with the Q4 production increase we announced in the last sales release.”

GM did see higher volume in Canada, especially in Ontario due to the phase-out of the province’s EV incentive creating an urgency to take advantage of it before it went away last month.

Earlier this year, GM dealers in Canada said that the Chevy Bolt EV is backordered by up to a year.

The automaker is expected to increase Chevy Bolt EV production by ‘more than 20 percent’ during the current quarter in order to support demand.

Electrek’s Take

GM insists that the decrease in the U.S. is not due to a lack of demand but because of production restrictions.

That’s understandable on a month-to-month basis, but it’s harder to believe on a quarterly basis. That said, I’d give them the benefit of the doubt without having more data.

The planned increase in production also coincide with the release of the 2019 version, but as we recently reported, there’s not much new about the latest version of the electric vehicle.

When it comes to electric vehicles in 2019, GM focused more on the Chevy Volt.

I find it hard to get excited about GM’s electrification effort these days, but the automaker promises new entires in the next year. Let’s wait and see.

What do you think? Let us know in the comment section below.