[Sean Nelson]

I happened to be walking past Dueck GM on Marine Drive here in Vancouver today and was flabbergasted to see over 20 Bolts sitting on the lot - a bunch up front and a bunch more in their parkade. That's literally an order of magnitude more than I've every seen at any dealer up to this point. With that kind of inventory it may actually be possible to get into halfway serious price haggling...

 

[The Other Tom]

I was very surprised to see that my dealer had 3 in December. 20 is a lot.

 

[cyberstudio]

As of a month ago, Dueck (downtown) was still standing pretty firm. "No discount whatsoever on Bolt and Volt." I was not able to negotiate more than a few hundred bucks off. There was no Californian-style price cuts. Then they started shuffling - e.g. when I asked for the doc fee to be waived they sold me a $300 set of carpets, and when I was offered an actual discount they tacked half of the doc fee back on, etc. There was also a lack of transparency - e.g. information they held back not letting me know about the Scrap-It program. When I pointed out there were inventory everywhere, not just them, but every other dealer in the region, so the Bolt's price could have been negotiated like any regular GM, they claimed that the turnover was quick and much of the inventory has already been sold...

I buy a new car only a couple of times per decade but they had perfected their art every day for decades. Knowing I couldn't possibly have won their game, I walked out and bought elsewhere (Carter GM in Burnaby). I was not expecting a Californian-style discount, nor did I get it. But I did buy from a dealership and a salesperson that was open and transparent. Trust is worth more than price.

Dueck probably couldn't have cared about losing me as their customer less. They advertised heavily and they will always be able to find customers who do not notice or care about the shuffling. (Winning in one area only to overspend in another.)

I suspect that we could all thank Doug Ford for the inventory. If this forms a trend, the price of Bolt could fall precipitously in the future. If you could wait for 1-2 more years, competitors will be abundant (Kona EV, new Soul EV, etc.), the ex-lease Californian vehicles from 2017 will be auctioned cheaply and some will find its way to Canada, and there are doing to be more significant price drops. I just decided that, as with any technology, you can wait and wait and wait, or you can enjoy right away, knowing full well it will depreciate quickly.

 

[NewsCoulomb]

Trust is worth more than price.

Down here, it seems like those two things go hand-in-hand.

It's great to hear that GM is finally prioritizing the Canadian market. They should have been from the beginning. They are now promoting the Bolt EV in Mexico, finally, which again, should have been happening from the beginning. The Bolt EV is a car that will do well (not necessarily great) in almost every market, so lord knows why GM decided to focus nearly all deliveries to just one state in the United States.

 

[Joule]

I happened to be walking past Dueck GM on Marine Drive here in Vancouver today and was flabbergasted to see over 20 Bolts sitting on the lot - a bunch up front and a bunch more in their parkade. That's literally an order of magnitude more than I've every seen at any dealer up to this point. With that kind of inventory it may actually be possible to get into halfway serious price haggling...

I am seeing what appears to be a steady flow of Bolts here as well, and the cars are also becoming more visible on the road. I would like to see GM give the Bolt space on the showroom floor, but that might have to wait until production volumes increase to ensure a more constant inventory. Then again, the individual dealerships might have the bigger say on this issue.

 

[NewsCoulomb]

I am seeing what appears to be a steady flow of Bolts here as well, and the cars are also becoming more visible on the road. I would like to see GM give the Bolt space on the showroom floor, but that might have to wait until production volumes increase to ensure a more constant inventory. Then again, the individual dealerships might have the bigger say on this issue.

We recently had to take our Volt in for servicing, and one of the few local Northern California dealership that is certified to work on the Volt had three cars on their showroom floor: A Corvette, a Sliverado HD, and a Bolt EV.

 

[shocker]

so lord knows why GM decided to focus nearly all deliveries to just one state in the United States.

To me it's kind of obvious. If you are going to lose money, lose it where it hurts the least.

I went to Dueck's website just to see what Bolts sell for in Canadian dollars. Can't say it's a good deal though when I read this.
"This summit white hatchback has an automatic transmission and is powered by a none engine."
At least in the old days, cars out the factory door sans an engine (due to logistics screw ups) were called gliders.