Call it luck, call it the results of unforeseen circumstances, but the Chevy Bolt EV is one great electric car. While rumors are high that Chevrolet is actually losing thousands of dollars on each Bolt EV that is sold, the vehicle has nonetheless proven to be incredibly popular, especially among EV fans who do not wish to wait for the Model 3. An EV that is still, as Tesla CEO Elon Musk so accurately put it, deep in production hell.
Outside the United States, the Chevy Bolt EV has pretty much done as well as it is doing in its home country. In Norway, for example, the Chevy Bolt EV, sold as the Opel Ampera-E, has performed excellently. The Bolt EV has done so well, in fact, that Norwegian dealers of the Ampera-E have ordered the car’s dealers not to accept new orders for the EV anymore.
The news was first reported in a Tek.no article, with the publication managing to get a statement from Opel Norway’s Information Manager Stein Pettersen. According to Pettersen, customers in Norway who would like to order a Chevy Bolt EV/Opel Ampera-E would likely see a delivery no earlier than 2019 .
“We recommend our dealers in Norway not to sign more contracts on Ampera-e at the present time, but rather put those who wish it on a waiting list. For those who can book a car now, we will talk about delivery no earlier than 2019.”
The Ampera-E has managed to make a significant splash in Norway as the first EV sold at a fairly reasonable price range. The vehicle, which is a direct competitor to the Tesla Model 3, has managed to enter the market far earlier than its upstart rival. In Norway, however, Opel has simply been unable to meet the consumers’ demand.
Pettersen further added that Opel Norway’s dealerships are so bogged down by orders, they have been able to meet only a fraction of the demand for the vehicle. The Opel Norway information manager also stated that Opel has around 4000 contracts signed with customers, and less than 1000 have been delivered.
“What we have said is that we had about 4000 contracts signed when we started delivering the cars, and since then we have delivered less than 1000 cars. In addition, of course, there have been a number of contracts since that time.”
Interestingly, the Chevy Bolt EV’s fate in overseas markets and the United States seems to be from two completely different worlds. As noted in an Electrek article, GM has sold less than 15,000 Chevy Bolt EV units since the vehicle debuted in the United States last year. While the deliveries to American customers are increasing, however, Chevrolet eventually ended up with a surplus of unsold units last Summer.
Considering the situation of the Chevy Bolt EV/Opel Ampera-E in the United States and in Europe, several EV fans are beginning to speculate that GM might not have really planned to create an electric car that will be a massive hit. This has been expressed by several commenters in a recent Electrek article.
“GM has a real winner on their hands, but they drop the ball AGAIN,” wrote one commenter.
“SOMETHING is going on with this car. GM isn’t saying, but they are making decisions that only make sense if you assume they don’t want to sell a lot of Bolts. Two plausible reasons for that are because they lose money on each one, or because they’d much rather EVs weren’t a thing,” wrote another.
[Featured Image by Steve Lagreca/Shutterstock]
