Here we are in the year of the intial Volt rollout, and the dream of starting to wean this country off of oil is about to begin. 2010 is going to be a true turning point in the history of the automobile.  Not only will the Volt rollout but so too will roll out the Nissan LEAF, the plugin Toyota Prius, the Ford Focus EV and many others electric cars. The intial market for the Volt as the only reasonably priced EREV will be strong, and frankly I suspect no matter how much GM charges, demand will far outstrip supply for some time.  It seems logical that if GM can line up the suppliers and build cars in high volume they should try to sell as many as they can at a profit.  Clearly GM expects to go into full production after one to two years, and bring down the prices by the next generation set to begin in 2013.  But why limit early sales?  Is it out of sheer conservatisvism? Limited sales will make the car more of a halo prodct, improving GM’s image and bringing people into showrooms, but generating few sales.  If they can build them, and can sell them at a profit right at the start, why shouldn’t they? I had a chance to ask this strategy question of Maria Rohrer.  She is GM’s new director of Volt Marketing.

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