A few days ago General Motors revealed Chevrolet Volt’s official pricing which is $33,500, except it isn’t! If you don’t consider federal incentives, the Volt has an MSRP of $41,000. Fine, but if you were thinking of getting one at that price, we’re sorry to report that’d be impossible! Apparently Chevrolet dealers charge customers $20,000 more than the official MSRP, blaming it on high demand.

It has been revealed when an Edmund’s employee emailed a Southern California dealership inquiring about the car. This is the response he got from the dealer:

Hello *****

Thank you for your online request, as you know the Volt is going to be a very limited production vehicle for the first 2-3 years. Demand is going to far exceed supply for this vehicle, initially our asking price for the Volt is going to be MSRP plus $20,000, we are expecting only receive 9 Volts all of next year.

I will keep you in my customer base for when the Volt comes out and I will contact you with any information as I receive it.  We are taking orders right now for the Volt, if you would like more information, please let me know and I will be more than happy to help you. Thank you.

***** *****, Internet Specialist

******* Chevrolet
********, CA

That is in spite of Chevy’s spokesman words who had said: “We also aren’t expecting our dealers to overcharge anyone for this vehicle, either, and will monitor the situation closely when we launch”.

So even with the incentives, you will have to pay nearly $54,000. That is a high price, specially when you realize the 2010 Toyota Prius is running for $30K, which is still $4K above the MSRP. Of course GM has plans to boost the car’s production by 50 percent which will eventually balance out supply and demand, but that won’t happen until at least 2012. Until then Chevrolet dealers are going to have really good time making big gross profit on each Volt they sell!

source: Autoobserver