While GM has been boasting about the Chevy Bolt EV being the first long-range affordable electric car, supplies have been fairly limited. It’s still not clear if the constraints are coming from production or demand since there are decent inventories in ZEV states in the US.

The vehicle is supposed to be coming to Europe this month with the first deliveries in Norway, but despite strong demand, deliveries are reportedly being limited to only a few hundred units by the end of the year.

Before selling its European business, including Opel, to the PSA Group, GM said that around 4,000 people reserved the Ampera E (European Chevy Bolt EV) in Norway.

After the acquisition, they said that the plans for the Ampera E remained unchanged and that GM will build the vehicles and supply them to Opel for them to sell them under their brand.

But as we have been reporting since GM announced the Bolt EV program, it seems to be geared toward regulatory compliance and not a high volume vehicle program. They are reportedly planning only 30,000 units per year and they will concentrate the deliveries where they need to comply with emission mandates since the company confirmed they are losing money on the vehicle otherwise.

Only a few hundred units will reportedly be made available in Norway in 2017 and it’s not clear how many more in 2018, but new buyers placing reservations are now are being told not to expect deliveries before 2019 – meaning that fewer than 4,000 are planned for next year.

Stein Pettersen, Opel’s PR manager in Norway, said on the local EV forum that some cars are currently on their way:

Hi! We understand that there are many rumors about the delivery of Ampera-e – both at elbilforum.no and in the various Ampera-e-groups on Facebook. As it is often the case, otherwise fast speculation becomes truths – so here’s a little clarification. As we have communicated all the time: The production of Ampera-e is allocated month by month – therefore, information about the delivery of the individual customer’s car must be updated based on this. Great demand has already led to a long delivery time, and unfortunately it can also cause customers to experience delivery beyond what has been planned. Unfortunately, we still can not provide exact delivery date for cars scheduled to be delivered in 2018, as soon as it is ready, of course, the dealer will inform customer. In spite of what is claimed, there are many cars coming to Norway right now, and we are still following the plan to begin delivery of the first customer cars in late May and early June. All customers who have not already confirmed a delivery date will receive information from their dealer Friday this week. Stein Pettersen PR Manager Opel Norway

We have received several reports of reservation holders in Europe being told that Opel will only be allocated a few hundred Ampera E units per year per country, including in popular electric vehicle markets like in the Netherlands, Germany, and Switzerland, where the demand is reportedly higher for the well-reviewed electric vehicle.

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