General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) has proudly announced that it recently reached a sales milestone with the Chevrolet Volt as sales reached the 100,000 mark.

This was a huge milestone for General Motors with the Volt, which was the company’s flagship plug-in hybrid to enter the market in 2010. The milestone marks the success of the vehicle which is a big step for GM considering the fact that the Volt was launched at a time when EVs and hybrids were not widely accepted and the concept was still new in the market. The firm managed to achieve attractive sales for the model. The consequences of this success might include more development from the company especially in the EV sector.

The Volt’s success can be attributed to various factors including its 53-mile EV range which is higher than most offerings from other hybrid vehicles in the market. The vehicle is capable of achieving 420 miles at full capacity using both gas and electric power. Chevrolet director of Marketing Steve Majoros stated that the Volt offers a fun driving experience and it was also the first hybrid vehicle to truly become main-stream.

Majoros also stated that the Volt paves the way for a series of other EVs from the Chevrolet brand that will offer long range. The vehicles will be sold to customers throughout the US. GM has also reported that Volt drivers have registered more than 1.5 billion miles in EV mode and a total of 2.5 billion miles cumulatively.

The company estimates that Volt drivers have so far saved as much as 58 million gallons of fuel from the extra miles accumulated per gallon from the hybrid technology. GM claims that this is enough fuel to fill 87 swimming pools such as those used for major competitions. A regular car’s average fuel economy is 25.3 miles per gallon. GM has recorded more sales for the Volt this year. The increased uptake is fueled by the introduction of the second-generation Chevrolet Volt in 2015. The new Volt has longer battery range and it uses fewer batteries though they have a higher capacity.