I think you can download a pdf here –

http://media.gm.com/content/media/us/en/gm/news.detail.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2011/Nov/gmsales

It shows GM already exceeded the 10k mark with 10,896 produced as of October. That’s not the goal. The goal is 10k delivered to paying customers, not to dealers’ lots.

GM has said all along they will deliver 10,000 to North American customers, 16,000 total for calendar year 2011. Volt spokesman Rob Peterson says they will not know until December if they’ll make it.

Interestingly, only 4,488 MY2011s were ever produced at Detroit-Hamtramck. After the summer shutdown and restart, the cars coming off the lines were MY2012s, so it was a half year only for 2011s, though they all count toward CY goals.

October was the first time the Volt cracked 1,000 sold in a month, and they are ramping up faster. You can read more on that here –

http://gm-volt.com/2011/11/02/volt-has-best-sales-month-to-date/

I’d be surprised not to see Volt sales records in Nov and Dec, but we shall see.

Peterson and GM are now playing it down saying whether they make it or not, they are not sweating it. I basically believe them, though I know they would really like the bragging rights if they can achieve them

If they do drop short of 10k Volts delivered, the media will have a minor field day from either simply reporting it or in cases lambasting GM, as there is a medium-sized line of GM haters, and GM green car haters post-bailout.

The real bottom line is longer term. How the Volt does in CY2012 will be a much better indicator of how the Voltec experiment goes. They will be out of excuses next year, and cannot say availability was an issue in 2012.

Also, GM CEO Akerson says the company foresees a completely flat year in company wide NA sales for all its types of vehicles in 2012. If it is flat, they have said they are prepared to ride it out and are relatively cash rich with over $38 B in liquidity, and with well-engineered ICE vehicles that are selling, and decent market growth in other parts of the world.

My understanding was GM stated that they would have 10,000 vehicle built that were available for sale by the end of 2011.

However, I see reports everywhere that that they said they would sell 10,000 units.

It looks like they will hit the first number easily. The second one is a longshot.

I looked back through the press releases and found this:
http://media.gm.com/content/media/intl/en/chevrolet/news.detail.html/content/Pages/news/intl/en/2011/CHEVROLET/03_04_volt_price_announcement

Here is the quote from that press release (dated “2011-03-04″… not sure if that is March or April):
“Chevrolet plans to produce 10,000 Volts by the end of the 2011 calendar year, and an additional 45,000 Volts during the 2012 calendar year.”

It actually depends on state-level statutes defining (state-by-state) what constitutes used vs. new. If the demo has more miles than the statutory limit (several-many thousands), it must be titled as used, I’m told. The dealer is permitted by law to take the credit, but the story of them deliberately and systematically doing it was debunked. I’ll observe also that if a dealer wanted to lower the price, he could, not that I know of any specific examples. If he collected the credit on a high mileage one, etc., he could pass on savings. It would be case by case; no doubt the exception by far, not the rule.

Some dealers are opting not to sell their demos because they are useful sales tools as a “halo” vehicle, and get used in local promos, public appearances, etc.

Capt. Concernicus – The $1,500 is a total compensation for sacrificing the demo and prepping it, etc. Nothing fishy really.

Another person thought these were old 2011s being kicked to the curb after a mandatory 6 mos holding/use time. That’s not true in most cases either. About 1800 demos are fresher 2012s minted since summer. Of early 2011 demos dealers got from Feb-onward, about 100 have been sold, and about 450 of the 2011MY demos remain.

GM says allowing dealers to put them up for sale is just another tool for dealers to satisfy customers if they need to. The decision was made recently at dealers’ request.

But I am still wondering how $7,500 tax credit will work here?

–So the dealer gets $1,500 for taking the demo graphics off the car. Does this mean that the dealers will now be pawning off Volts that were demos as “new” cars now? There by being able to charge full sticker price for the “new” (I mean demo) Volts?

Something just sounds fishy about this.

http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/searchresults.jsp?position=top&doors=&systime=&model=VOLT&search_lang=en&start_year=1981&keywordsrep=&highlightFirstMakeModel=&scarid=294977644&search_type=both&distance=0&min_price=&drive=&rdm=1320769424636&marketZipError=false&advanced=&fuel=&keywords_display=&end_year=2012&lastBeginningStartYear=1981&showZipError=n&make2=&certified=&engine=&dma=SAN_FRANCISCO-OAK-SAN_JOSE_SJ&page_location=findacar%3A%3Aispsearchform&body_code=0&isFlashPlugin=true&transmission=&default_sort=priceDESC&max_mileage=&address=95123&color=&max_price=&num_records=25&seller_type=b&make=CHEV&keywordsfyc=&sort_type=priceASC

I can see many used Volts (looks like demo) for $36,000 – $38,000. Will buyers be able to get $7,500 tax credit for those cars?

Also you can see that one dealers that has a Volt on sale for $65,000!