Number of the Day
Car Dealers Opting Out of the Electric Revolution, by the Numbers
17% of the country’s Cadillac dealers accepted a buyout from GM rather than invest in electric car infrastructure
150: That’s how many Cadillac dealers have opted to no longer sell the brand rather than invest in electric car infrastructure.
This was the ultimatum from GM to the dealers: Install $200,000 worth of electric car charging infrastructure, heavier lift equipment to accommodate weightier electric vehicles, and specialist tools, or accept a buyout and give up the Cadillac brand. The buyouts were attractive—$300,000 to $1 million, the Wall Street Journal reported—and about 17% of the country’s Cadillac dealers accepted the exit offer.
This isn’t surprising: Since the start of the new EV age a decade ago, dealers have been asking, “What’s in it for me?” They generally haven’t been hopeful that they’ll be able to sell many EVs — or that they would earn very much commission by doing so. With their lack of conviction, dealers adopting this credo have arguably contributed to making the decade’s anemic non-Tesla EV sales a fait accompli.
But the opt-out also gets to the heart of the EV revolution. We have a loud supply-side…
