Tesla may or may not start base model production in Q1 2019, but availability is not really helping the Bolt sell.
"Nobody wants one" is also hyperbolic - Chevy releases sale numbers, and while not top-of-the-line, they're also not 0.
Some high demand cars sell over MSRP. Seeing deep discounts at the end of a model year is common when trying to shift inventory or when dealing with very high margin trim levels. Advertising 26% under MSRP for a base 2019 model in 2018 is a rather extreme case.
PS: For some actual numbers: GM delivered 3,949 Bolt EVs during the last three months in the US from 6,710 units during the same period last year. In automotive sales terms that's very close to zero. https://electrek.co/2018/10/03/chevy-bolt-ev-sales-slumping-...
1) GM seem to go out of their way to make the Bolt seem cheap and unappealing. The seats in particular are too narrow and are uncomfortable. The car is wide enough to accommodate more comfortable seats, but they just decided to use the cheapest seats possible.
2) There is no DC fast charging network that the Bolt can use in the US.
Thanks to the supercharging network, I can (and have) take thousand mile road trips in my Tesla without worrying that I'll be able to find a place to charge in a reasonable amount of time.
With a Bolt, any trip approaching 1/2 the car's range (eg roughly 115mi) from home suddenly becomes an adventure where you have to look for slow level 2 chargers and be prepared to wait hours for your car to charge. The Chevy dealership where we drove the car had a charger, but it was ICE'd in by their inventory of giant gas guzzling SUVs. I imagined this scenario would be typical.