Any of Buick’s nearly 2,000 U.S. dealers who don’t want to make the investment to sell electric vehicles will soon have the chance to exit the business and get a check from General Motors for it.
On Friday afternoon, Duncan Aldred, vice president of global Buick and GMC, held a virtual meeting with Buick dealers to outline the plan, two Buick dealers told the Free Press and GM spokesperson Michelle Malcho confirmed.
One Buick dealer, who also sells GMC, told the Free Press right before the meeting started that he planned to continue with Buick, “Oh, hell, I’ll be in. I’ll stay in. We’ve spent $600,000 on charging stations for the Hummer. We’re in no matter what.” He asked to not be named because the meeting details are supposed to be confidential.
But Malcho said Aldred will inform the Buick dealers that “there’ll be an opportunity for them to look at their franchise to see if they want to continue forward with Buick as Buick transitions to an all-electric future. This is completely voluntary.”
A Buick dealer who listened to the meeting Friday afternoon told the Free Press that Aldred laid out the plan as a three-month endeavor. First, in the next 30 days, all Buick dealers will be asked to sign a nondisclosure agreement promising to not discuss the value of the offer they receive. After that, in the next month, they will each get a buyout offer. After that, they get 30 days to decide whether they take the offer or not.
In June, Buick unveiled the Wildcat EV concept and declared the mid-luxury brand’s lineup would go all-electric by 2030. GM’s luxury brand, Cadillac, will also have an all-electric lineup by the end of the decade.
Buick is also getting a new emblem as it overhauls the brand with fresh designs for its existing gasoline-powered vehicles and for its new products due to come out over the next 18 months. The Wildcat EV concept will influence the design of all upcoming Buick vehicles, whether they be internal combustion engine or electric.
Malcho said Aldred’s meeting with dealers is to “kick off the conversation” and inform dealers that they have the option to exit.
“Some may be really excited about an all-electric future and some may not,” Malcho said. “It’s a way to offer to those who aren’t interested and want to go a different way, a conversation.”
Malcho said the dealers will be asked to make an investment in chargers, service lifts and other equipment for EVs. She declined to say how much investment Buick will require, saying that detail will be given to dealers at a later time. The costs to the dealership will vary based on that dealership’s size and current electrical infrastructure, she said.
She also did not know how long dealers have to decide whether they want to invest in the necessary infrastructure to sell EVs or say to Buick, “I’d like you to approach me with a number.” She declined to say how much Buick will offer dealers for buyouts, saying it will vary by dealer.
But the Buick buyout plan would be similar to one Cadillac offered its dealers two years ago. In that case, about 170-180 of Cadillac’s 870 U.S. dealers, or about 20%, took buyouts that ranged from $300,000 to $700,000 to give up their franchise rather than make the investment for tools, training, equipment and charging stations to sell and service EVs. In Michigan, “a handful” of Cadillac’s 36 dealerships signed a buyout agreement.
Malcho said there are just 18 Buick stand-alone dealerships in the country, the rest are paired with GMC or Chevrolet, so any dealers who did take a Buick buyout would likely continue selling other GM brands.
The story was first reported by the Wall Street Journal from an interview with Aldred.
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Contact Jamie L. LaReau: jlareau@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan. Read more on General Motors and sign up for our autos newsletter. Become a subscriber.