GM changes the design of the shift lever on the Chevrolet Volt

An eagle-eyed reader over at GM-Volt fan site noticed an anomaly in the batch of photos that we published last week of the first red Chevrolet Volt. Unlike earlier Volts that we've seen, the red car was a production verification unit built on the main assembly line at the Detroit Hamtramck plant. These cars are essentially production-intent machines used to verify the build process before going into the test fleet. Everything going into these cars should be pretty much finalized.

When the "production" Volt design was unveiled nearly two years ago it featured a paddle-shaped transmission shift lever embedded in the center stack. While this looked cool, testing later showed its shape to be problematic when sliding it forward into the park position. The design team has since reworked it into a more conventional lever, although the position remains unchanged.

[Source: GM-Volt.com]