A New Volt is Born

I just got word from the chevroletconnect.com web site that my Red Chevrolet Volt has been built, I even have the VIN number the last 3 digits of which are 593 making it the five hundred and ninty third saleable Volt to be produced. The first 300 Volts have already been shipped and a few lucky souls have taken delivery of their Volts, including the very first delivery which was in Denville NJ less then 10 miles from where I work. I had the crazy idea that ordering from a dealership closer to New York City would mean getting the Volt sooner, as at first they were only selling it in NYC later they said NYC Area, then it was some of New Jersey, turns out they ment anywhere in northern New Jersey. But I'll be getting mine soon enough.
So what now. Well it goes into Quality and Control, where they test it, including the battery, many of the first Volts were in QC for almost a month, but it sounds like they have it down to a week, I think they need that time to verify the batteries are charging and holding charge correctly. Then they ship the Volt, which could take anywhere from a couple days to a few weeks, depending on how they ship it.
The Volt Chevrolet Advisor I spoke to mentioned the 27th, though I'm not sure if thats the date the dealer can expect the car, or the date they ship it out. Either way I'll probably be getting my car the last week of the year or the first of the next.

My Volt is on the Production line

chevroletconnects.com offers a great service that allow you to track the progress of your GM car orders. And I just found out my Chevrolet Volt is actually being built right now. Below is a summery of the status of my order over time, the key dates are:
07/28/10 the Dealership takes my order and requests a allocation from GM
11/12/10 the Dealership uses an allocation with GM to place the order (this one took too long in my view, other dealerships were much faster to this stage)
11/16/10 GM starts ordering parts and preparing to build my car
11/30/10 my car enters the production line
next step a notice that its built in a week or two and a VIN number, then shipping which can take weeks, I'll probably get the car in early January just short of the end of year mark I was hoping for to get the tax rebate back right away, but I can hope.

Here is the official report from cheveoletconnects.com

07/28/2010 - (1100) Order Placed at Dealership Order passed GM edit tables but dealers has not received allocation to place order

07/28/2010 - (1102) Order Entered via Web

08/23/2010 - (2030) Order edited or modified

09/20/2010 - (2030) Order edited or modified

09/24/2010 - (2030) Order edited or modified

10/19/2010 - (2030) Order edited or modified

11/12/2010 - (2000) Order Accepted by GM Dealer used allocation to place order into production

11/16/2010 - (2500) Order Preferenced Order pulled to the production system

11/16/2010 - (3000) Order accepted by production control. Parts being ordered and production process is underway.

11/30/2010 - (1102) Order Entered via Web

11/30/2010 - (3100) Order available to sequence.

11/30/2010 - (3300) Order Scheduled for Production Order is scheduled into the plant build cycle

11/30/2010 - (3400) Order Broadcast (Internal Plant Paperwork Order Produced) Order is sent to various build & supplier areas to bring order together