Nissan Motor Company has been beating Chevrolet for some time in electric-car sales, however Chevy is planning to increase their output of Volts to 5,000 units a month. Nissan's Leaf has 3,875 sales so far this year compared to the Volt at 2,745. Production levels are seen to be the determining factor for this discrepancy, however according to Tony Posawatzs, director of Chevy's Volt, by January production will be cranked up significantly.

With waiting lists over a few thousand long, more Volts could mean more money in the bank and more cars off the lot. GM has already said their goal is to sell upwards of 10,000 Volts in the U.S. this year alone. "This is very much about supply constraints as opposed to a sales race. Next year will really show true demand for these kinds of cars and which one wins," Rebecca Lindland, an analyst with IHS Automotive said to Bloomberg. A fellow IHS analyst predicts that both automakers will sell every Leaf and Volt made through 2013.

According to GM, 60,000 Volts are scheduled to be produced at the Detroit-Hamtramck plant in Michigan in 2012, with 45,000 earmarked for U.S. sales. In comparison, the Nissan Leaf is currently built at a rate of 50,000 units a year and is produced in Oppama, Japan. The Japanese automaker plans on shifting Leaf production to their plant in Smyrna, Tennessee at the end of 2012. They have a goal to produce a staggering 150,000 units for the U.S. and for export in 2013. The hybrid wars have begun, and for both Nissan and Chevy the winner will be whoever can produce the most the fastest.