2011 Chevrolet Volt pre-production prototype, January 2010

2011 Chevrolet Volt pre-production prototype, January 2010

We have been hearing about the 2011 Chevrolet Volt for a while now. For some it probably seemed like the day would never come and for others the time has probably just whisked by (namely the engineers trying to get this puppy ready to go). Earlier this week, GM saw the fruits of their labor when the first 2011 Chevrolet Volt rolled of the Detroit-Hamtramck plant. This is truly history in the making.

2011 Chevrolet Volt pre-production prototype, January 2010

2011 Chevrolet Volt pre-production prototype, January 2010

The Volt isn’t planned to launch until November 2010, but this assembly run is part of testing before the product goes live. “The first manufacturing-validation vehicle … came down the assembly line on Monday,” said GM’s vice chairman, Bob Lutz, in an interview with the Detroit News at the 2010 New York Auto Show. He also addressed how early this was for any production work. “This is eight months before production launch. It shows that the program is in extremely good shape.”

No one is going to disagree with that, especially since there was a point in time where consumers may have doubted that the Volt would even make it to production. With the first “manufacturing-validation” version down the line, these fears have pretty much been extinguished. The only thing left now is to wait until the masses can get out to their dealership and let “the best car win.”