Featured About 150 Cadillac dealers would rather leave the brand than sell EVs

It's a big investment for selling a few cars a month, especially when there is not a proper infrastructure in place.

I feel one of the biggest problems with EV's there is not a standard charging plug for all EV's, requiring more charging stations than necessary. Imaging having 5-8 different fuel nozzles not knowing what care will be pulling in.

 

Would be interesting to know how many Cadillacs each of these dealers sell compared to the others.
Many of them could be marginally making it and glad to get the opportunity to cash out

Mike

 

Caddy sales . . . it likely that the sales critters only know what they sell, or at the most, the ICE industry, & lazy being the nature of mankind, don't want to learn anything else unless they have to. Even so . . . that stodgy attitude of refusing to change / remain nimble / resilient is why GM failed in the 1st place, having to go thru bankruptcy. no surprises here.
.

 

The choice between a necessary $200,000 cash flow outward or exiting the Caddy biz for $300,000 cash flow inward might almost make itself for some number of dealers in the current circumstances, no matter what their feelings about EVs are.

 

300k ain't gonna take you far, but maybe they are already financially secure.

or maybe just politicking, gives gm an excuse to pump the brakes

 

Hmm, how does that compare to the fossil fuel situation?

One nozzle for unleaded gasoline, with two or three different octane grades and sometimes a separate E0 and/or E85 mix too;
One nozzle for leaded gasoline (gone now, so generally didn't overlap the E85 offering);
One nozzle for highway diesel;
One nozzle for off-highway (dyed, not highway taxed) diesel.

At least all those electric "nozzles" can connect back to the same "tank", not requiring many separate tanks.

 

The Wall Street Journal reports most of those accepting the buy out sell other GM brands and just a few Cadillacs a month. So this could be more of a case of not wanting to make the investment for EVs while the brand is a low sales performer for the dealership, than not wanting to sell an EV. Sounds like they are free to resign up if EV Caddy sales grow.

There is only that many different plugs globally. Toasters have that many plugs globally too.

In the US, all plug ins have the J1772 plug for AC charging. Which is all you need for charging at home or work. I think this standard is world wide.

The plugs for DC charging are different for the same reason 15, 20, and 30 amp plugs are different; so something that can draw more electricity that the outlet can safely provide doesn't go into the wrong outlet. CHAdeMO is Japan's standard. It is in the US because it is what the Leaf could use, and there wasn't another DC standard available. CCS, the frankenplug, is a SAE standard, like the J1772, that came out later. CHAdeMO will likely fade away, as most manufacturers are using CCS for their cars sold here, but having both plugs on a charger is a small cost in relation to the DC charger itself.

Tesla has their own standard because CHAdeMO wasn't fast enough for them, and CCS didn't exist at the time. The cars come with a J1772 adapter for AC charging away from home.

Europe uses J1772 and CCS. EVs that support DC charging have to have CCS, including Teslas. The physical plugs are different for the same reason they have different toaster plugs; the grid is different. Three phase AC actually gets delivered to homes there. They had AC chargers faster that what is seen in the US, but those are falling out of favor for DC units.

China has their own thing. Though they are working with the owners of CHAdeMO on a single standard for faster charge rates.

 

Transitions away from fossil fuels don't come easy, especially if you're late for the party.

 

I long time manufacturing plant in my little town just announced they were moving to Mexico citing as one of the reasons the "the introduction of new technology from non-traditional suppliers is forcing Tier 1s to review their operations to increase competitiveness.”

Now why would I want to be in the business that relies on service revenues for profits when you are asking me to sell a vehicle that has no recurring service needs. And pay $200k for the privilege not knowing how successful your product is going to be. BTW, your track record is 0 for 2.

 

Very smart observation! How are all the stealerships gonna scam their customers with replacing super expensive spare parts that they dubiously claim are bad whenever a car comes in for an oil change? It's like the stealership racket is going to go the same way fossil fuel cars are going... There's just not enough parts to "take care of" in an EV compared to fossil fool cars to maintain their cash flow.

 

"Dealerships might hamper GM’s plans to electrify its cars. Wall Street Journal tipsters claim that roughly 150 GM dealerships in the US have decided to drop the Cadillac brand and accept a buyout (ranging from $300,000 to over $1 million) rather than spend about $200,000 to upgrade the dealerships with charging stations, repair hardware and other equipment needed to sell EVs. Many of these brands only sell a few Cadillacs per month versus more for Buick, Chevrolet and GMC, but it’s still a significant blow when GM has 880 Cadillac dealers in the country."

You would think installation of charging stations-repair hardware and other equipment would help the Dealers futureproof their businesses and make them more viable for the foreseeable future. Maybe as some suggested there is something else going on here

 

You guys dig pretty deep into this. Way more deeply than needed. Let's say I had a Toyota authorized business where I sold one HV battery per month for the last three years, and then Toyota told me I need to purchase $50,000 worth of battery testing materials in order to keep selling batteries. If I choose to not buy the test equipment, they would buy my authorization back for $75,000. It's a no-brainer. There's no secrets hiding in the background or nefarious underlying plans.

If the business was doing 50+ batteries every month, it would probably be worth it. Same goes for a car business. If they're only selling 1,2 or 3 caddies a month, they aren't making squat anyway. Half of them would probably give it away. Offer 300k+? They're probably fighting each other to get in line.

 

if they are only selling a couple a month, why are they still dealers?

 

GM has been trying to eliminate Cadillac dealers ever since they went bankrupt.
This allows GM to do a better job making sure dealers are willing to get behind EVs, and cut down on the excessive number of Cadillac dealers.

 

they must have quite a deal, is it a lifetime contract, or in perpetuity?

 

Because they are selling Buicks, GMCs, and maybe Chevies. Or even other manufacturers' cars.

They probably started selling Caddies when they were desirable, perhaps even before GMC was brand, and continuing to do so didn't entail a burden until now.

 

so they can give up caddy and keep the rest?

why would gm allow that?

 

The revenue pleases them?