General Motors CEO Ed Whitacre announced the Chevy Volt will go on sale in October, one to two months earlier than originally scheduled.
The move will give GM a head start on the Nissan’s Leaf, which is expected to go on sale in December. Both will be sold in limited quantities in select markets.
Detroit Hamtramck will build the Chevy Volt extended range electric vehicle. On March 31, the plant celebrated a major milestone, the building of the first pre-production Volt on the regular assembly line.
The announcement came at a ceremony at GM’s Fairfax, Kansas, where GM will invest $257 million to build the next generation Chevrolet Malibu.
General Motors also announced that the company has made its final payment of $5.8 billion to the U.S. Treasury and Export Development Canada, paying back its government loans in full, ahead of schedule.