Cadillac dealers must invest $200K each for brand’s EV future
DETROIT— The push for an all-electric future will come with a cost for GeneralMotors Co. dealers.
For Cadillac dealers the price tag is estimated to be $200,000 to transition dealerships for coming electric vehicles beginning with the Lyriq crossover, the brand’s first all-electric vehicle hittingU.S. dealerships in late 2022 after debuting first in the China market. GM’s luxury brand informed its more than 880 dealerships of the required investment recently.
Cadillac is GM’s leading electric brand that’s shooting to sell more electric vehicles than gas-powered by the end of the decade. GMis investing $20 billion through 2025 on electric and autonomous technologies and pushing to release 20 electric nameplates across multiple brands by 2023.
“There’s an investment that’s being made by GeneralMotors in terms of bringing these EVs to the market,” said RoryHarvey, vice president, Cadillac sales, service and marketing, in an interview. “And there’s also an investment that is required by our dealer network to ensure that they can meet customer expectations and have the right facilities and infrastructure in place.”
The Cadillac Lyriqwill hitU.S. dealerships in late 2022.
Cadillac consulted with the brand’s dealer council before instituting the requirement. Dealers will have to start preparing for the electric future by the second quarter of next year. The cost comes from the tooling and training necessary to sell electric vehicles, including the installation of charging stations.
David Butler, chairman of the dealer council and executivemanager for Suburban Cadillac, which has three Cadillac dealerships in Michigan and one in California, said the investment might be a lot
for a small dealer who makes few sales in a year. But there are investments, like redoing showrooms, that are “substantially
more” than $200,000.
“I have no problem investing in the brand as long aswe’re going to bring buy-in behind it,” he said.