Chevy Volt supply rises to 22 days as sales slip

Chris Perry, head of Chevrolet global marketing for General Motors, expects sales of the Chevy Volt to rebound after its Model Year 2012 changeover and recently told Ward’s Auto, “The sales pace is what we expected.”

Chevrolet sold a mere 125 Volts in July, down from 561 in June. Perry blames low inventories for the slip in Volt sales, but the number crunchers over at Ward’s Auto present a compelling argument that seems to contradict Perry’s claim. While Perry says, “There weren’t any [Volts] available,” data compiled by Ward’s shows 226 of the plug-in hybrids in stock at the end of July. With the Volt’s sluggish sales rate, 226 vehicles translate to approximately a 22-day supply.

Furthermore, Perry responded to the thought-to-be anti-Volt report released by CNW Marketing Research, stating the typical Volt spends “maybe 48 hours” on dealer lots. Our guesstimate is that, at nearly two days, each Volt dawdles more hours away on the lot than does a Nissan Leaf.