Demand for the GMC Hummer EV is running high, and as such, GM is aiming to prevent new owners from quickly reselling their vehicle for a quick profit by limiting warranty transfers until after a set ownership period. Now, GM Authority has learned that GM will reduce this ownership period from 12 months to 6 months.
As GM Authority covered this past July, GM hopes to prevent owners from quickly reselling their new GMC Hummer EV at greatly inflated prices (a practice more commonly known as “flipping”) by limiting the transferability of certain warranties until after a set ownership period. In addition, new owners that do end up flipping their vehicles will also be prevented from placing a future sold order or reservation for another high-demand vehicle. Notably, this same strategy is also in place for high-demand vehicles like the 2023 Cadillac Escalade-V and 2023 Chevy Corvette Z06. GM is also offering new C8 Chevy Corvette Z06 owners a bonus of 500,000 My Chevrolet Rewards points, a $5,000 value, for retaining ownership of their vehicle for the required period of time.
However, per previous GM Authority coverage, GM has lowered the ownership period requirement from 12 months to 6 months for the 2023Â Cadillac Escalade-V and the 2023 Corvette Z06. Now, GM Authority has learned that The General is doing the same for the GMC Hummer EV. As such, new owners will be able to sell their GMC Hummer EV, 2023 Corvette Z06 or 2023 Cadillac Escalade-V after only 6 months of ownership without any repercussions from GM.
Back in March, GM Authority reported on a number of vehicle listings offering “brand-new” units of the GMC Hummer EV at greatly inflated prices. For example, one listing offered a new Edition 1 model for $325,000, while another offered a new Edition 1 model for $310,000, although it’s possible the two listings were for the same vehicle, albeit posted in different places.
GMC Hummer EV production began late last year at the GM Factory Zero plant in Michigan. Output is sourced from GM Ultium batteries and GM Ultium drive motors, with the Edition 1 model producing 1,000 horsepower. Under the skin, the GMC Hummer EV rides on the GM BT1 platform.
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Comments
The problem is GM, aka Greedy Mary, is worried about someone making a dollar besides her. The thought is driving her crazy. She doesn’t want dealers or consumers to make money. Only her! I wish she would hop on her on broome and fly off into the sunset. She no longer has the support of the dealers or consumers.
I don’t like the idea of GM (or any other manufacturer) dictating how long a buyer must retain ownership. If you buy it, it’s yours, drive it, sell it, park it – it’s your vehicle. Maybe there’s more nuance than I understand on the surface. I looked at a Ford GT around 2005 and the dealer had it marked up $50K over MSRP (and, sadly, it was still a lot of car for the money). I bought a Viper in 2001 when production was extremely limited and Dodge would not allow dealers to sell over MSRP. I appreciated that about Dodge (only Dodge car I’ve ever purchased.)
Something doesn’t smell right for a manufacturer to dictate what you can do with your vehicle after the sale.
For the Hummer EV many dealers were selling it at MSRP, and buyers were immediately turning around and selling it for double the price. So, GM had a couple of options. 1 – Increase the MSRP so they (GM corporate) make the profit. 2 – Let dealers charge above MSRP so they (dealers) make the profit. Or 3, create this contract so customers could get the vehicle at MSRP and at the same time protect the dealers from people reselling the vehicle making huge profits. This contract only hurts people that planned on reselling the vehicle for profit.
As GM starts producing more Hummers this problem will natural go away because anyone that wants a Hummer will be able to get one at some point when capacity meets demand.
or Option 4, let customers do as they please and keep the hype, free advertising going. So what if some people are willing to pay 2-3x the MSRP to early buyers. It keeps interest and resale value high. GM and/or dealer could also offer expedited service for extra money similar to how Tesla expedites more expensive variants in their factories.
GM should keep their nose out of the dealers business and the retail customers business. Let the free market decide. If there are people out there willing to pay whatever to be the first on the block. Let them pay up. They obviously have the funds to do it. At some point these things will probably cool off and the guy that paid $250, 000 on bringatrailer.com will be disappointed.
Dealers are being short sighted. It’s great to make an extra buck on a sale, but guaranteed you’ll lose the customer long run. And with social media bad press spreads really fast. Next thing you know you have the local media there and then the national media picks it up. If you want the free market to decide then GM should just raise the MSRP like Tesla does. Dealers basically have to do nothing to sell the Hummer. GM would prefer if they didn’t exist for these high-profile vehicles.
Dealers have to make about a $350,000 investment to sell the Hummer EV. Dedicated bay with a special lift, and that usually means a newly constructed addition. A high speed charging station. A standard charging station. A forklift to move the battery packs in the event of a replacement. Special tools and training. A small dealership might get 10 per year allocation if lucky. At the fabulous GM markup they might make $5000 per vehicle. Pretty easy to see the ROI is not there.