Chevy Bolt Incomplete is coming, with no back seat
As of this week, Chevrolet will begin taking orders for a model known as the Bolt Incomplete, a commercial vehicle for fleet sale. General Motors sells what it calls "Incomplete" chassis that are built out — usually by third parties — for some dedicated commercial use; for example, Cadillac uses Certified Master Coachbuilders to turn the XTS into anything from a limousine to a hearse. The Bolt Incomplete omits the rear seat and other convenience features that don't serve a cargo use-case.
The order guide indicates the official name for the conversion is Rear Seat Delete Package, and it's a $350 option — likely to pay for ship-thru; the Bolt Incomplete gets assembled at the Orion Assembly Plant in Michigan, trucked to Knapheide Truck Equipment for build-out, then trucked back to Orion for final delivery. Deleted along with that rear bench are all airbags save those for the driver and passenger, and floor mats. The Comfort and Convenience Package and Driver Confidence Package are stripped from the options list, and 16-inch steelies replace the standard 17-inch painted aluminum wheels. No indication of a rear-window delete option to make this the spiritual successor to the Chevy HHR Panel.
The little electric four-door could serve small-item delivery fleets that travel less than 238 miles in a day, that specifically want an EV of a certain size. It's not clear how much Chevy will charge for the cargo-fied Bolt, but we're not sure it would replace the commercial Chevy Spark since the difference in up-front cost is roughly $20,000 before the EV rebate. Even with fewer running costs for the Bolt, that's a lot of dough to recover.
However, the Bolt Incomplete breaks open this new market with the same advantage the regular Bolt had for much of its life: OEM backing and expertise, and zero competition. Private customers need not apply for the commercial Bolt, though, since Chevy "[r]equires a Fleet or Government order type."
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Chevy Bolt Incomplete is coming, with no back seat originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 07 Mar 2018 10:00:00 EST.
