This time a year ago, Chevrolet had some 2,614 out of 3,079 dealerships certified to sell the Chevrolet Volt. But sales for the vehicle have been disproportionate. For instance, 70 percent of all Volt of Chevy’s top 300 dealers accounted for all Volt sales. You don’t need a degree in mathematics to see that spending the extra money (over $5,000) for the mandatory tool and equipment costs the Volt requires could be an unrewarding business venture for many Chevy dealers.
As a result, some rural dealers (like Jim Barnard Chevrolet in Churchville, NY) are discontinuing their commitment to stock the plug-in compact sedan, according to Automotive News. Others, however, will continue their commitment in the vehicle, as GM looks to introduce more plug-in vehicles in the future.
Comments
Makes sense and Chevrolet can’t really blame them. Im sure a dealership in the heart of San Francisco doesnt stock a high amount of Silverados but does have an inventory of Volts. Where as the dealership above is the opposite.
Remember the ELR is on the way too.
Does a dealer really want to say to the owner “Sorry, but I can’t be bothered to spend $5000 to fix your Caddy; you should have bought a Lexus CT”.
Sticks in the mud.
grawdaddy:
The expensive tool has almost no reason for being at the dealer level. The battery has three sections, the battery pack still has to be dropped from the vehicle to replace any of them, GM still has to ship a replacement section, and the dealer will still have to ship back the section or sections of the battery that are defective. It saves no time and won’t get the car back on the road any quicker. Asking dealers to spend $5k in order from GM to save a few dollars on freight on those rare occasions that the battery needs to be serviced is either foolish, or a thinly veiled way to weed out some participating dealers. The only question is why GM is doing this, and what models are next??