From a high of 2,289 sold in March, Chevrolet Volt sales have been climbing steadily since then: it’s already sold more through this July than all of last year. But that’s evidently not enough for GM, which is planning to pause production of the Volt at its Detroit-Hamtramck plant, for almost an entire month.
For the 1,500 workers at Hamtramck, they’ll have from September 17th to October 15th to sit tight.
It’s the second time this year that GM has idled production of the Volt. That last time, the plant was closed from March 19th to April 16th, when GM had 154 days’ worth of inventory in its lot. This time around GM has a lot fewer Volts, only about 84 days worth. Now that California has allowed the Volt to access its HOV lanes, the Volt has enjoyed better sales than before: so far this year, Chevrolet has sold 10,666 examples.
So why the shutdown? GM wouldn’t respond to inquiries, but it claims that “we continue to match supply and demand.” Either way, the Hamtramck plant will remain busy. Chevrolet has already started assembling the 2013 Malibu there, with its EcoAssist technology, and next year it’ll start building the new Impala there (which we previewed back in New York).
Source: Automotive News
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