First, GM moves up the official unveiling of its Chevrolet Volt plug-in electric vehicle to September from October, and now reports have the car making its debut a full year ahead of schedule, at least in North America. This, despite General Motors’ own concerns regarding meeting the original deadline.
The Autocar report says the Volt could show up in American showrooms as early as September of 2009 and would help the struggling automaker shift attention away from its slowing SUV sales and brand reorganization, including attempts to sell Hummer.
If the Volt indeed comes to market by 2009, it would help sales, as GM would likely sell all the Volts it could make, though each would likely be a money-losing proposition. It would also be important for the company’s image, as it would likely beat similar vehicles from Toyota by about one year.
European versions of the Volt would launch sometime in 2011, about 18 months after the vehicle’s debut in North America, partly because it is slated to use a diesel engine to charge the batteries instead of a gasoline powerplant.
