The Chevy volt is out selling its main competition, the Nissan Leaf, by more than 2 to 1. Chevrolet sold 23,461 units in 2012 alone, compared to Nissan’s 9,819 sales of its Leaf.

There was a lot of pressure on Ed Welburn and the other Execs at GM to move more units of the Chevy Volt – especially after 2011’s disappointing figures. The car’s $40,000 MSRP price tag is a tough sell for a vehicle of its size and interior capacity.

The technology in the Volt is a better buy to most consumers than the Leaf’s. At contention is, range, the distance the cars can travel before needing to be recharged and fuel consumption.

The Leaf does have a greater battery range of the two cars. Chevy’s Volt has a small gas motor that extends driving distance to that of a traditional vehicle.

Helping the Volt’s sales even more is a rule change in California that allows it to be driven in their high occupancy lanes.  Most of the recent sales spike came from this state.