Buick is moving to all-electric by 2030, so GM gave its Buick dealers a choice in 2022 – invest money – $300,000 to $400,000, according to Automotive News – to prepare to sell EVs or voluntarily give up their franchise. GM is now going to end 2023 with around 1,000 Buick dealerships across the US – that’s 47% down from 1,958 in January. Plus, the buyout option remains open, so more could follow.
Ok, I’m curious. What kind of preparation needs $400k to sell EVs? A part installing a few charging stations, I don’t know…
Equipment and training for servicing as well.
From what I understood back when i looked at it, it included a DC charging station, training for staff, and priority for demo vehicles and inventory
Probably a dozen charging stations and the electrical work needed to support them, that would eat a lot of the 400k as my work spent about a quarter of that for 8 but already had tons of extra electrical capacity as were a Casino and therefore built for high power draw.
Then training seminars for staff, and probably needing to buy a few of the flagship EVs for show. (Dealerships buy the vehicle from the manufacturer then sell it at up charge to consumers, they’re probably going to be required to pick up a decent inventory up front)
Smart move for Buick. They can follow Tesla’s model for direct automobile sales and cut the middle man.
Good riddance, I hate the dealership model, let me buy direct from the manufacturer
