General Motors buying out retailers
who won't make EV investment

(December 20, 2023) Nearly half of Buick's U.S. dealerships left the brand this year after it offered buyouts for those who didn't want to invest in selling electric vehicles, Automotive News has reported. The General Motors brand on Tuesday said it will end the year with about 1,000 dealerships nationwide, 47 percent fewer than at the start of 2023.

Buick offered to buy out retailers who did not want to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars on tooling, equipment and training to prepare to sell and service EVs as the brand goes all-electric by the end of the decade.

Buick had 1,958 U.S. franchises at the start of this year, according to Automotive News' annual dealer census.

The buyouts were offered on a voluntary basis and in consultation with dealers, said Duncan Aldred, vice president of global Buick-GMC. The program remains open and will "continue to be done in a voluntary and consultive way" should additional dealers choose to give up their franchise.

"I'm really pleased with where we are," Aldred told Automotive News. "The network, where we are now, is a good size. It's with dealers who are focused on the business, who've shown that they can recover the volume that the dealers who transitioned away were doing."

The roughly 1,000 dealerships that left the brand this year previously represented about 20 percent of Buick's U.S. sales, Aldred said. Dealer throughput has increased by an average of 300 percent this year, he said, adding that that shows the brand has been able to retain customers. About 89 percent of the nation's population is still within 25 miles of a Buick dealership, according to the brand.

Source: Automotive News