General Motors will offer buyouts to Buick dealers that don’t want electric cars

General Motors revealed on Friday that it is offering buyouts to US Buick dealers who don’t want to engage in the brand’s shift to only selling domestically produced all electric cars by 2030.

All of the nearly 2,000 Buick franchise dealers in the United States will have the option to take a buyout, according to Global Buick Head Duncan Aldred, who made the announcement in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. While almost all Buick dealers also offer other GM models, a dealer who accepts a buyout would forfeit the Buick franchise and cease to sell the brand. 

“Not everyone necessarily wants to make that journey, depending on where they’re located or the level of expenditure that the transition will demand,” he said. “So if they want to exit the Buick franchise, then we will give them monetary assistance to do so.”

The action illustrates how the market for automobile dealers is changing as automakers scramble to stock their showrooms with electric cars.

In 2020, the automaker provided Cadillac dealers with comparable buyouts. Only 150, or 17%, of the 880 merchants took the offer rather than assuming they would have to spend at least $200,000 modernizing their electric vehicle showrooms.

To accommodate charging stations and the specialized tools needed to repair electric vehicles, many automakers require dealers to spend a lot of money renovating their stores. Dealers have claimed that facility modifications, which may call for more electricity for the building, can cost more than $300,000.

GM’s EV ambitions for Buick are a part of the company’s overall $30 billion commitment to electric cars by 2025. The automaker, which has committed to selling only electric cars by 2035, anticipates that this investment will produce around 30 new EVs globally.

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