GM has been touting its Volt extended range EV for years now and the vehicle finally close to hitting the U.S. market. The vehicle uses a gasoline generator to produce electricity to drive the wheels once the all-electric driving range is used up. GM has big plans for sales of the Volt, despite its relatively high $41,000 price tag.

The company has announced that it will build 10,000 to 15,000 Volts in 2011. That tidbit comes from GM global vehicle line executive for electric vehicles Doug Parks. Parks also told The Detroit News that in 2012, Volt production could be upped to as many as 60,000 vehicles. That announcement comes on the heels of GM updating the production capacity for the 2012 model year to 30,000 to 45,000.

Parks said, "Starting in '12, we'll be in this max rate of 60,000." Parks claims that GM could actually sell that many volts in 2012 and possibly even make more of the vehicles than the 60,000 number. Park told The Detroit News, "We have the ability to increase volume and crank that up. We don't have any firm plans yet but we're flexible."

Park also stated that GM is in the process of finalizing the EPA fuel economy numbers and electric driving range for the Volt. He also admits that the final number could come in at under the 40-mile electric range mark that GM has been promising all these years. The final electric range number could be as low as 25 miles, however, Parks hopes that GM will "over deliver".

Park said that GM is working to reduce the $41,000 MSRP for the Volt as well. He said, "Our business model for the Volt is not finalized yet. We need to continue to make that (price) better as we go forward."