Canadian availability of the Soul EV

BillR said:

I've got an even longer wait story.

I dropped into a Winnipeg Kia dealership today and asked when they'd be getting a Soul EV. The salesman just laughed and said, "Never, in our climate! Not an electric!" I pointed out the window at our 2013 LEAF, and said, "But they work just fine." He then backpeddled and said, "Well, Kia only picked a few dealers,and the closest one is Edmonton." I grinned and asked sarcastically, "Because the Edmonton winters are so much warmer than Winnipeg's?" (They are about the same, for those not familiar). He then backpeddled some more and said, "Well, we'd only ever sell 1 or 2 a year and it would cost us too much money to buy the special equipment and train our staff."

So there you have it, the Soul EV will "never" be available in Winnipeg. For sure not with an attitude like that.

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I also experienced that same attitude when I was first looking into EVs. I went into a Nissan dealership nearby and spoke to an old crusty sales-guy about the Leaf. From the very beginning he started out with all the negatives. After 5 minutes of lies (I did my homework before I went in) I asked to speak to someone more knowledgable and he put me onto a younger more "informed" sales-guy who couldn't stop praising it. After I told him all the things his co-worker mentioned about it, he was apologetic and embarrassed.

It just goes to show you some of these "dinosaurs" are completely against EVs.

Ever said:

Have any Canadian owners been able to negotiate the sticker price with their dealer? I've been asking mine and they say that "due to the high demand (waiting lists) for the EV, head office (Kia Canada) are NOT allowing any drop in the price of the vehicle".

Does this statement sound familiar to anyone? Or is it just my dealer playing hardball/greedy?

Thanks.

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Yes, that was the same line I got, along with a statement about the cost of installing the charger and the number of vehicles they'd have to sell just to break even on that ... which, in retrospect was BS ... the charger costs < $1000 .. the install might be a few thousand, but they would re-coop that in a few vehicle sales ... and to boot, they don't even reserve the charger spot for EVs-only - I've seen it ICEd a few times. The only concession they seem to give is on trade-in allowance.

irfca said:

Ever said:

Have any Canadian owners been able to negotiate the sticker price with their dealer? I've been asking mine and they say that "due to the high demand (waiting lists) for the EV, head office (Kia Canada) are NOT allowing any drop in the price of the vehicle".

Does this statement sound familiar to anyone? Or is it just my dealer playing hardball/greedy?

Thanks.

Click to expand...

Yes, that was the same line I got, along with a statement about the cost of installing the charger and the number of vehicles they'd have to sell just to break even on that ... which, in retrospect was BS ... the charger costs < $1000 .. the install might be a few thousand, but they would re-coop that in a few vehicle sales ... and to boot, they don't even reserve the charger spot for EVs-only - I've seen it ICEd a few times. The only concession they seem to give is on trade-in allowance.

Click to expand...

Ya that charger excuse it ridiculous! I'm having issues with them and the trade-in allowance. They're (of course) trying to lowball me.

I'm seeing a lot of people getting their Soul EVs lately (including myself picking up tonight) and I think I know why. While I was at the dealership this week doing the paperwork for mine, a transporter came in (Sorentos rather than Soul EVs) and I overheard the driver and some of the sales staff chatting when I was waiting for people.

Apparently the trucking contract with Kia/Hyundai expired and although head office assured the trucking company that it would be renewed with them, the trucking company were reluctant to be shipping them without the contract (and guaranteed payment) in place. Everything ground to a halt for 3 months but that has now been resolved with a new contract. There's this 3 months of backlog at the Montreal docks though, the Kia/Hyundai pen is full and they have 5 offsite storage areas with cars in them as well.

Long story short, I expect the car to be lot more available and the backlog of orders to reduce or clear very shortly.