As General Motors gears up for a battery-driven future that includes 20 new EV models by 2023, Cadillac will help light the way as the automaker’s leading technology brand. However, in order to support the push into the EV segment, Cadillac dealers will be required to make new investments totaling some $200,000.
Per a recent report from The Detroit News, more than 880 Cadillac dealers were notified earlier today that a $200,000 investment was required to help transition and support the upcoming EV onslaught. Dealers will be required to start prep for the new EV products by Q2 of 2021, which will include new tooling, charging station installation, and employee training.
“There’s an investment that’s being made by General Motors in terms of bringing these EVs to the market,” said vice president of Cadillac sales, service and marketing, Rory Harvey, 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.”
GM will invest upwards of $20 billion on EV and autonomous vehicle technologies through 2025.
For some dealers, the investment is a perfect fit. For example, Inder Dosanjh, who owns four Cadillac dealers in the San Francisco Bay Area, is already making the changes necessary to sell Cadillac EVs by installing multiple charge stations.
“It’s a game changer for us,” Dosanjh said. “The current product is very hot. Electrification just really fits in our profile.”
Meanwhile, more rural Cadillac dealers that may see less demand for all-electric vehicles, have questioned the investment, as we covered previously.
Cadillac recently introduced its first-ever EV model, the Cadillac Lyriq crossover, in near-production form via a livestream event. Further upcoming Cadillac EVs include the Celestiq flagship sedan, as well as a new compact crossover that slots in underneath the Lyriq, a new three-row crossover that slots above the Lyriq, and a full-size SUV similar to the Cadillac Escalade. Cadillac will use the names Optiq and Symboliq for two of these new models, as GM Authority reported previously.
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Moving opposite to market trends.
With four model years recommended for purchase.
This example is a former NCRS award winner.
Many automakers oppose right-to-repair laws citing cybersecurity concerns.
Breaking out the spec sheets for a comparison.
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The cost of new knowledge, you want to play you have to pay
So how does GM require this with franchise laws ?
Just here on this site earlier, GM is suing a dealership in Iowa for doing something GM did not like, yet here GM can " require " this ?
Please someone explain !
I was told GM had no power over an independent franchised dealership, by GM.
GMs only recourse upon a dealership is the price they charge the dealership for their products.
If this is true that GM can " require " a dealership to do something GM wants, why the h3ll is GM letting the dealerships get away with horrible customer support at times ?
I think this is great, I can't wait to see this progress, the more money " required " should mean the dealership should be prepared for almost anything. There is nothing that discusses me more than asking a question to GM and NOBODY knows ANYTHING !
Boy, this sure sounds familiar! Seems that GM/Cadillac have a pattern of behavior in which they pull a stunt like this and p-off a large number of their dealers. I recall just starting at the Buick, Cadillac, GMC and Honda store in 1988 just after the Allante was introduced. I asked why our dealership wasn't able to sell them and it was because Cadillac required dealers to pony up a bunch of money and "investments" in order to have the privilege of selling them. Fast forward to the Catera. Same story. Now go back and ask the dealers who did make that "investment" just how well it paid off. If I'm not mistaken, the Cadillac XLR and ELR were both the same with the required hoops to jump through to sell them. Again, how did they work out? I may be wrong on the last two, but my point is still valid. You just can't keep asking your loyal dealers who are in the trenches daily to do this just to be allowed to sell their products. I think this is totally wrong.
Agreed but in Caddys defense unlike Allante it's several models that don't run on gasoline at all with a price range of $60-$200k with that price and propulsion you'll get more discretionary customers who would be at a Benz or might I say Bentley dealer. It isn't like Lincoln did a few years ago telling dealers to invest a million or so without revealing product to them just to receive Fords in 3 piece suits.
The big difference is that the Future of vehicles (Luxury Space much quicker) is EV's
So if you want to sell Cadillac vehicles as a dealership you have to Pony up or walk away.
This is a simple no brainer
If you plan on selling the new cars you need to have the equipment to do it. These vehicles are not the same old thing here.
If you were a customer who takes their EV in and the dealer says they can’t fix it due to the lack of equipment how would you feel about the dealer.
GM a while back made all the dealers rebuild or remodel. That was much more than $250k. The dealer every year have to invest in new equipment and programming to fix today’s cars. Even my buddy who has a small shop spends $20k to $4ok a year. He just spent $50 for a 3 day program to fix a Ford.
Ford made dealers spend a ton on equipment and training for the GT. Chevy had cost associated with the C8. In this case it will be a number of vehicles that will increase going forward. They need to be prepared.
This is the cost of doing business.
If a dealer pushes back then they may not be a dealer that should be selling Cadillacs.
@C8.R
You are 100% on the money.
Dealerships need to realize the kids growing up right now that will be Future Customers will not drive ICE and more specifically due to new Startup EV Companies will NOT want to even deal with a Dealership. So they either adapt or die off a very slow death in the near Future.
I literally ordered my Model 3 in less that 10 minutes from my cell phone. I do not want to deal with dealerships if I can help it in the Future either but as a GM fan I pray Cadillac will have a Model 3 EV competitor to bring me back to the GM Family.
How do you plan on selling your Tesla in the future? Does Tesla take it as a trade? If so, how they going to value it and will you be able to negotiate if they give you lousy value on it?
I hear tesla fans talking about how they don't have to deal with dealers ever again but I'm having trouble understanding how they will sell it without dealer interaction. Or worse yet, sell on their own.
Have you heard about Carvana?
Yes i have. Nothing like buying the second largest purchase of your life sight unseen.
and yet their sales are growing every year. Regardless, the statement was "I’m having trouble understanding how they will sell it without dealer interaction" - I simply provided an answer, not suggesting it to be a superior or inferior option to the dealer model.
GMC Fan,
I have been buying GM for 40 years now and have only traded one vehicle into a dealer and that was my 2017 HD on my 2020.
Everyone I have sold outright, as I simply get more money than I have been offered by a dealer.
I usually have a list of people who want them, as I do all work on them myself and only use GM parts !
They are like new when I sell them, and people know this !
The dealer these days could care less what your vehicle even looks like, they just want VIN and miles and poof here is your price !
Also my local GM dealer had two Tesla's on the lot this spring, so they must have got them from somewhere !
That's great if you have a buyer that you trust and know the check is good. But that's very uncommon in this day and age. Selling on some website and trying to find a buyer and making sure you actually get paid is a huge PITA. Yes, a dealer isn't going to give you as much but one can reduce sales tax when trading so that offsets any reduced value.
Carvana isn't going to give you any more for your car than a dealer. And no sales tax reduction with Carvana cause I'm not buying ng anything from them.
Overall still not convinced buying from a website has any benefit especially since I want to check out the vehicle before agreeing to the purchase.
Whats it like living in fantasy land?? GM is financing money losing EV’s with products that are getting their budgets cut year after year and vehicle design and quality is suffering because of it. Kids today can’t even afford a Chevrolet Spark unless it’s financed for 84 months let alone a $75,000 and up electric vehicle. GM doesn’t care about environmental aspects of EV’s. All they see is a way to charge more for less. Less parts, less manufacturing time, less labor, yet higher and higher prices. The dealer structure isn’t going away anytime soon either. They are the ones who have to correct the manufacturers issues. If you think having a mechanic fly to your city and drive to your house to correct your vehicle isn’t going to impact price and service youre delusional.
Dump $250,000 into a brand thats on life support seems like a great idea. Dealers have been given sub par product to sell from Cadillac for years now. I would be hesitant to invest much in them personally. Heck GM doesn’t even want to invest in it
Sounds logical to me
Cadillac tried to shed nearly half of its dealers a few years back under Project Pinnacle... most refused to give it up.
If youre in it for the long haul, no complaints! This is a necessary investment.
Is Cadillac going to change the cursive way of writing Cadillac to something modern? They don't even teach cursive in school anymore. Seems very dated....
With how much dealers will be making on the new Escalade they will have not problem with this investment. What will screw Cadillac is if they forget about the models that people want. The whole ICE vehicle lineup better not be neglected. People do not lust after EVs. The biggest niche of people is very tech savy people who are very established in their careers. My generation of people are not really interested in cars to begin with. ICE vehicles will still get the company afloat for the foreseeable future.
dblezy,
You speak the truth here.
Like C8.R wrote in his comment on the GM EV tech, " the GM model is flawed "
Right NOW, the person who WANTS the GM Cadillac, WANTS an ICE vehicle with 400+ HP midsized with an interior at least EQUAL to what was shown in pictures of the Lyriq !
The " GM model " is now at least two years LATE, and GM is " redoing their model " for TWO years FROM NOW !!!
Don't get me wrong, the mainstream boomer is still buying the Chevy V8 Escalade and the Chevy V8 V series.
But the Xer and the older Yers, do not buy V8 tanks !! Some do but not enough to pay the bills. Why do you thing Cadillac has been loosing for 20 to 30 years here ?
GM would be so much money ahead, by just sticking the Lyriq interior, or what was shown in pictures, into the CT5, XT4, and so on !
Take the 200K required from the Cadillac dealerships, and FIX the " Known Faulty " issues with the Cadillacs people drive today ( CUE screens, 8 speed transmissions, etc )
The niche EV market belongs to Tesla !
Look you can buy a BMW EV NOW !
Look you can buy an Audi EV NOW !
How many are wanted ? Sold ?
And now for some reason unexplained, the " GM forecast model " shows that if Cadillac, we are talking Cadillac, the GM mainstream, blah, " Good Enough" Cadillac, will be sought after by the new tech savvy ? In the USA ? Maybe in China ! I would bet that's why it will be released their first !
I wonder if the " GM model " shows that once the Cadillac is seen as a status symbol in China, that the US customer will want one also ? That is the reason GM sells so many over their. The China customer still sees Cadillac as a status symbol like it was here in the 50s - 70s. The Chinese customer does not realize that in the USA today, the modern Cadillac other than maybe the Escalade ( by the boomer ) is viewed as cheap junk !!
The only was GM survives the EV world we are headed towards is to flood the market with the average " Good Enough " vehicle the customer NEEDS !
GM has very few vehicles left, that the tech savvy customer wants, or anyone wants really. ( Corvette, Escalade, by a boomer again )
For GM its a need, I need transportation and GM has a dealer close that can fix their cheap junk, period !
Even the GM truck market for the most part, is a need, not a want, and for the same reason above !
All I can say is, I wish GM all the luck with their " boomer business model " selling to the new tech savvy buyer !
This strategy makes sense to me. Without skin in the game, some dealers/sales staff will ignore the new technology like they did the Volt. Dealers didn’t push the Volt because of low margins and sales staff indifference. When I bought my Volt, it was almost over the objection of the dealer staff. If Caddy dealers want to enter the new age of electric power, they should have to have the facilities to support repair and after sales support. I’m not aware of any manufacturer that provides tool kits and facility improvements gratis. If a dealer won’t make the investment, so be it. It can still sell ICE models. The alternative is selling cars without the ability for after sales support/repair capabilities.
I am totally convinced that there is a huge and still growing market for EVs. And GM does have the resources and technology to be the top player in this market. The weak link is the resistance that some at the dealer level may provide. Some just don't want to learn or become enthused to sell this product when they are already getting by with an existing product. So while the point is made with the report, it doesn't touch the real deal. GM can't run the entire chain. Competition does improve the network. But when a dealer sees that they can and do sell 100 pickups to every EV that sits on the lot, the back of the lot, why would they change? There's a simple reason why Tesla sell at the rate they do. They've got a great smoke screen and the selling point doesn't have habitual traditional salespeople. We are a long way from acceptance of EVs. Personally, I want one and the only thing that is stopping me is that the Bolt EUV with it's slightly larger "perfect" size isn't available yet. But I already know that from personal experience, the sales network where ever I go don't understand why I want this.
Love to see more dealerships like this: https:// www. facebook .com /watch/?v=1665964040218546&extid=iC2iCP1pWJGac6NJ