Chevy Blazer EVs Are Arriving At Dealers, But May Not Sell In Large Numbers, Yet

According to electrek.com, Chevy’s latest EV has already reached a production level of 65 Blazer EVs per hour. That’s very significant, in terms of production volume, and potentially represents both a large increase over Chevy Bolt production and perhaps the start of General Motor’s “rebound” from its most recent EV sales decline, and is thus good news for GM and those interested in its EVs. GM’s US EV sales were down a little over 20% between Q1 and Q2, 2023; from 19,700 to 15,652. Nearly all of GM’s US EV sales were due to the Bolt models, and GM is ending production of the Bolt later this year, so the arrival of the Blazer may thus be seen as the beginning of GM’s attempt to dramatically increase its EV sales.

But will GM actually be able to sustain a 65 per hour (or better) production rate for a long period of time? GM is also planning to bring its Chevy Silverado EV and Equinox EV to the US market this year as well, and so far at least, GM has been hamstrung by supply chain issues. As a result, GM has been constrained in sales by battery supply. Supposedly, that will all change by next year, but we may consider tempering production and sales figures for GM’s EVs this year, at least a little. 

However, I think supply chain issues are just the beginning of headwinds GM is going to face. Price may be, perhaps, the more significant drag on their sales as long as interest rates are high and the economy struggles. Here’s why I say this: The Blazer EV will start at $47,595, this year, until the base 1LT model comes out next year at a somewhat more affordable price of around $44,995. That is a significantly more expensive electric vehicle than the Chevy Bolt, and the Bolt is the only reason GM temporarily made it into second place this year, behind Tesla, in US EV sales. Now, the Equinox EV will be priced closer to the Bolt (with a base price around $30k in the US), and that’s an important detail, but we should be considering how well any non-Tesla EVs that cost over $40,000 are selling in the US right now as the best possible model to describe the kind of sales we might see of the Blazer EV. Guess what? If we ignore Tesla sales, the best selling EV in the $40-$50k range in the US is the VW ID.4 which has sold over 16,000 units in the US for the first half of the year according to InsideEVs. The ID.4 starts at just under $40K (before destination and other fees) and is eligible for the $7,500 federal tax rebate (which the Blazer should also qualify for, this year). This means, I think, that GM may be in for a rather disappointing miss because with its primary non-Tesla competitor coming in at $5k less and selling perhaps 30-35,000 units by the end of the year, means we might more realistically expect GM to sell half that figure, at best, but more realistically I would say about 40%, at best. 12,000 - 14,000 Chevy Blazer EV sales, plus Bolt, Silverado, Equinox, GMC Hummer EV and Cadillac LYRIQ EV sales should mean that GM has its best ever year for EV sales (and they will likely trumpet that news if so). But the hard truth is that it may be a stretch for GM to reach 100,000 US EV sales in 2023 (I predict they’ll hit between 85 - 95,000, if their supply chain issues continue to improve). Even though that may mean taking 2nd place, behind Tesla, it is a very long way from catching Tesla (considering that Tesla had more than twice that total US registrations, by April, alone). 

Are you excited about the new Blazer EV? Are you considering buying one or perhaps put a deposit on one already? Please leave your thoughts and questions below.

Images courtesy of Chevrolet.

Justin Hart has owned and driven electric vehicles for over 15 years, including a first generation Nissan LEAF, second generation Chevy Volt, Tesla Model 3, an electric bicycle and most recently a Kia Sorento PHEV. He is also an avid SUP rider, poet, photographer and wine lover. He enjoys taking long EV and PHEV road trips to beautiful and serene places with the people he loves. Follow Justin on https://www.torquenews.com/kia for regular electric and hybrid news coverage.