Volkswagen Will Invest In Dealers Willing To Invest In EVs

• Volkswagen will financially help out dealers who will sell EVs.
• Part of the investment will go to in-house charging infrastructure.

Just recently, we reported that only a fraction of Ford dealers in Germany had signed on to sell the upcoming Mach-E electric SUV. Faced with this reality, Ford had to step up, which is what VW’s done pre-emptively. VW will offer 50% to 75% matching to dealers willing to invest in and sell EVs in the near future.

This is what happened to Ford dealers: Ford’s set margins for selling the Mach-E were far too small to support the large investment on the dealer’s behalf. In order to avoid such a scenario, VW will offer its dealerships a 50% match from the factory to prepare their facilities for EVs. If the dealer decides to market the product locally, VW may offer up to a 75% match on the money spent.

Volkswagen of America CEO Scott Keogh said: “We want to make sure dealers are ready for electrification, so we are going to financially invest with our dealers to make sure our dealer body is ready.”

Interestingly, some dealer bodies who’d shown no desire to get on the EV bandwagon have changed their minds following this announcement. Volkswagen Dealer Advisory Council Chairman John Luciano said: “We had so many people that came up and said, ‘Wow, I was not in for any of this — zero, not my market not my world.’ And now I’m seeing that maybe instead I own that market, because I think everybody else around me” will be too cautious to take a chance on BEVs.”

The VW ID.4 is the first EV that will launch in North America later this year.

Source: Automotive News