[Cehjun]

It's a little unclear how much of the condescending attitude towards the Bolt is coming from Barra and how much of it is coming from the interviewer, but the Bolt is essentially dismissed as a "compromised" design which was well-intentioned but proved disappointing.

Barra is a smart lady. I read somewhere she herself drives a Bolt and a Corvette. She stays intimately involved in the business, is a great promoter all the while effectively handling the multitude of outside pressures on GM.

Doubt very much that the condescending attitude was in any way perpetrated by Barra (even if she has those thoughts).

If there’s any finger pointing to be done it might more appropriately be towards Reuss’ side. Letting GM Korea and LG get too much design & execution responsibility not under auspices of the mothership.

Bolt seems like a good candidate for future B-school cases.

 

[Cehjun]

I'm in for the ride again. Just bought some GM shares this morning.

Got in for $35-$36, eh. Nice dip, a 52 week low.

If GM had reinstated a dividend like Ford did and if the $USD hadn’t strengthened like it has done lately, I would have seen fit to jump in as well.

What a shame the Bolt didn’t get the dedication it deserved. Could have provided great protection for GM in North America on the lower end against what Asian manufacturers are currently doing and against the cheaper EV’s that Volkswagen and Tesla are supposedly coming out with.

 

[Cehjun]

Also the Bolt simply isn't the best market segment to make a big push.

Striving to maximize penetration into the low/entry level segment even with a technically inferior or outdated product, may be a good move.

Hamper the competition’s capacity utilization, provide a cash contribution against ongoing fixed costs and deploy ‘get em and grow em’ marketing approach.

Consider the Chevrolet Chevette of the early 1980’s run on 2-shifts out of GM’s Wilmington DE assembly plant. Simple design reliable car but inferior in performance and features. Price taker to maintain production volume into entry level of market, selling millions of units over 12 years,

In lower price EV entry level not nearly as sensitive to product attributes. Had GM put adequate oversight effort into Bolt & recognized need for verification of manufacturing quality while setting up for 2 shifts at Orion. Today Bolt would have large carpark containing many potential move uppers. And a car sufficiently acceptable to participate 2-3 more years.

In 2018 UBS studied Bolt profitability indicating contribution margin of $5,500-$7,500 per unit depending on model (but no way to make an EBIT profit with Orion running on one shift)