Then there’s the Chevrolet Bolt-with-a-B, as it became known at its world debut at the Detroit show. Offering up about 300 km worth of range (and perhaps more, since the 200 miles often quoted in the U.S. works out to 320 km), the Bolt Concept EV is a rarity: a reasonably priced EV that neither looks exactly like its gas equivalent, nor looks different enough to be called an oddity (or worse). GM confirmed that morning that a version of the Bolt EV would go into production, but didn’t confirm when it would arrive in Canada, though that’s widely believed to be at some point in 2017.

But by far the most intriguing aspect of the Bolt EV Concept is when GM Canada president Steve Carlisle announced its potential price, and even emphasized it.

“It will go into production, it will be sold across Canada, and it will cost about 30,000 dollars,” he said. “That’s right, about 300 km of range for about 30,000 dollars.”

That’s particularly interesting because when GM’s CEO Mary Barra said at the Bolt EV Concept’s world debut in Detroit that it would be sold for $30,000, it was generally understood that price meant after the $7,500 federal tax deduction, so the actual MSRP would be closer to US$37,500. Given the usual price discrepancies with Canadian MSRPs, that suggested a likely C$40,000 MSRP in Canada, if not slightly more.

But when Carlisle stressed in Toronto that the Bolt EV in production form will come in close to $30,000 with no qualifiers, that sounded like a price in Canadian dollars. Of course, there’s no national tax deduction in Canada, only a provincial $8,500 and $8,000 rebate in Ontario and Quebec, respectively. Yet he didn’t qualify it by saying they were aiming for a $30,000 price in Ontario and Quebec, so for a brief instant, both I and perhaps many of those Volt owners in that audience wondered if GM Canada just announced it planned to match the post-deduction U.S. price here across the country.

When asked for clarification, GM Canada communications staff said that Carlisle’s announced $30,000 figure is GM’s “goal,” but didn’t specify if this would be before or after the Ontario and Quebec plug-in car rebates. “Note that the estimate is purely that, an estimate in U.S. funds.” Take that as you may.

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