GM announced Tuesday plans to target Tesla Motors’ hold on the electric vehicle market through the production of the Chevrolet Bolt, which the company claims will pummel Tesla’s Model 3.
The Bolt can drive 238 miles on a single charge; Tesla’s Model 3 has a 215-mile range. The Bolt will have a set price of $37,000, according to figures released by the company. The vehicle will be released to all markets later this year, beating Tesla’s affordable coupe to the market by more than a year.
“The Chevrolet Bolt represents the first ‘real’ electric car in the history of the automobile,” Karl Brauer, analyst for Kelley Blue Book, told reporters.
The Bolt is entering the market at the right time, as Tesla has been treading water recently in an attempt to produce and deliver its fleet. Tesla missed its quarterly delivery mark in July by more than 3,000 vehicles. Its deliveries were 15 percent less than forecast and were even lower than the first quarter of this year. Tesla managed to sell only 14,370 cars, down from the 17,000 it expected to sell, according to a July letter sent to shareholders.
Missed deadlines are not the only problem the company is facing.
Tesla, which is chaired by Elon Musk, reported a sizable quarterly loss in August, underscoring the difficulties the electric vehicle maker is contending with as it tries to ramp up production of its Model 3 and merge its productive capabilities with SolarCity, another Musk entity. Tesla managed to secured nearly 500,000 pre-orders for the Model 3.
Tesla said its quarterly loss is $293.2 million, or $2.09 per share, up from about $184.2 million last year.
Annual sales of battery-powered vehicles like Tesla still account for less than 1 percent of all U.S. vehicle sales, according to analysts, so there’s no guarantee that beating up on the first vehicle maker in the electric market will equate success.
“Coming out of the gate with a higher number than [Tesla] is quite positive,” Edmunds senior analyst Jessica Caldwell told reporters. “But given the market situation, with green cars not getting much traction, it’s still an uphill battle.”
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