About 150 dealerships out of 880 accept buyout from GM.
Buyout ranges from $300,000 to over $500,000.
The cost to upgrade a dealership to sell EVs is approximately $200,000.
To be fair, slow down GM’s plans in making their planned collection of EVs available throughout the US, not research and development. GM will invest up to $27 billion in EV technologies but the bottom line is that dealerships, for Cadillac in this instance, need to invest as well. Roughly 17% of Cadillac’s current dealer network has preferred a buyout from GM over spending money to sell EVS.
Some of the dealers that selected to take the buyout sold very few Cadillac annually so they’re probably happy receiving a cheque. Others figure that the currently weak demand for EVs will mean that a return on their investments will take a long time to materialize.
Cadillac LYRIQ | Photo: Cadillac
Cadillac global brand chief Rory Harvey confirmed to the Wall Street Journal that a number of dealers had accepted the buyout. “The future dealer requirements are a logical and necessary next step on our path towards electrification,” Mr. Harvey said. Those who aren’t ready to make that commitment are getting fair compensation for exiting the brand, he added.
Despite the loss of about 150 dealerships, Cadillac’s network is still considerably larger than Lexus and Audi, for example. The lower number of shops may actually help improve the brand’s cachet.
