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I can tell you why sales tanked: https://www.forbes.com/wheels/news/chevrolet-bolt-discontinued/ https://www.forbes.com/wheels/news/chevrolet-bolt-discontinu..

I can tell you why sales tanked: https://www.forbes.com/wheels/news/chevrolet-bolt-discontinued/ https://www.forbes.com/wheels/news/chevrolet-bolt-discontinu... "Automakers have been ditching small, affordable, low-profit vehicles for larger, pricier and higher-profit ones (gas-powered and electric) for years, but the process has greatly accelerated since 2018. In March of that year, cars costing less than $25,000 made up 24% of the car market, but they make up just 4% today, according to data from Edmunds.com." We've got a Bolt EUV and it's a fantastic car. Bought it because it had some of the best legroom for our rather tall children. We don't need or want some monster SUV.

incomplete 3y ago
VW did the same w/the golf/egolf. i have one, love it, but starting in 2020 the only replacement you could get for it was the ID.4. which is huge. and exactly what i don't want or need. le sigh. BRING BACK SMALLER CARS!!!
maximus-decimus 3y ago
It's really weird how they just gave up on making low cost cars.
- floxy 3y ago
  Is this still a knock on effect from pandemic supply chain issues? If you only had a limited supply of integrated circuits, it probably made more sense to build the more expensive cars?
  - maximus-decimus 3y ago
    Probably doesn't help, but they started killing small cheap cars in North America even before COVID. Examples are the Toyota Yaris (which was a rebadged Mazda 2) and the Honda Fit.
  - acdha 3y ago
    That’s what I read in a comment here: they tried to jerk their suppliers around and lost. If you can only get so many chips it makes a lot of sense to put them in the SUVs and trucks with 40% profit margins rather than cars with half the margin on a lower base price. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26931498 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26931498
    - floxy 3y ago
      Even if the high-end vehicles have lower margin, it could still be smarter to focus on the higher cost vehicles to the maximize revenue / profit if you are production constrained. (i.e. 30% of $40,000 = $12,000 vs, 50% of $20,000 = $10,000)
      - acdha 3y ago
        Oh, sure. It’s just in this case the ratios are reversed so I find it completely unsurprising that the makers and dealers are acting in their own financial interest. The average pickup is $60k so they’re probably making well over twice as much on each sale as well as locking in higher maintenance revenue.
- underseacables 3y ago
  Inflation, unions, a lot of things are pushing prices up for auto companies and so they feel probably that they need to sell more expensive vehicles to keep the profit levels up.
JohnTHaller 3y ago
There's apparently a glut of ~$100,000 MSRP pickups unsold on dealer lots across the US.

incomplete 3y ago

VW did the same w/the golf/egolf. i have one, love it, but starting in 2020 the only replacement you could get for it was the ID.4. which is huge. and exactly what i don't want or need. le sigh. BRING BACK SMALLER CARS!!!

maximus-decimus 3y ago

It's really weird how they just gave up on making low cost cars.

floxy 3y ago
Is this still a knock on effect from pandemic supply chain issues? If you only had a limited supply of integrated circuits, it probably made more sense to build the more expensive cars?
- maximus-decimus 3y ago
  Probably doesn't help, but they started killing small cheap cars in North America even before COVID. Examples are the Toyota Yaris (which was a rebadged Mazda 2) and the Honda Fit.
- acdha 3y ago
  That’s what I read in a comment here: they tried to jerk their suppliers around and lost. If you can only get so many chips it makes a lot of sense to put them in the SUVs and trucks with 40% profit margins rather than cars with half the margin on a lower base price. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26931498 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26931498
  - floxy 3y ago
    Even if the high-end vehicles have lower margin, it could still be smarter to focus on the higher cost vehicles to the maximize revenue / profit if you are production constrained. (i.e. 30% of $40,000 = $12,000 vs, 50% of $20,000 = $10,000)
    - acdha 3y ago
      Oh, sure. It’s just in this case the ratios are reversed so I find it completely unsurprising that the makers and dealers are acting in their own financial interest. The average pickup is $60k so they’re probably making well over twice as much on each sale as well as locking in higher maintenance revenue.
underseacables 3y ago
Inflation, unions, a lot of things are pushing prices up for auto companies and so they feel probably that they need to sell more expensive vehicles to keep the profit levels up.

JohnTHaller 3y ago

There's apparently a glut of ~$100,000 MSRP pickups unsold on dealer lots across the US.