GM Builds first Chevy Volt

These pre-production versions of the Chevy Volt will not be sold at dealerships, but will be used to assure all steps in the production system will meet the quality targets set by the Volt engineering team.

The electric car will arrive at GM dealerships in November. GM is still putting the final touches on it.

The price tag on the Chevy Volt is expected to be around $40,000 before the $7,500 credit.

Volt’s moment nearly coincides with rival Nissan announcing pricing Tuesday for its Leaf electric car. It was lower than expected — $33,600  before federal tax credit, $26,100 after the buyer gets the federal $7,500 credit on that year’s tax bill.

Volt carries a gasoline engine that kicks in to drive a generator that keeps the electric motor humming when the batteries are juiced-out. Leaf, on the other hand, is battery-only. Nissan says it’ll go 100 miles on a charge before the driver has to plug in and recharge the car.

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