GM offers to buy out Buick dealers that don’t want to invest in EVs

DETROIT – General Motors is offering buyouts to U.S. Buick dealers that don’t want to make investments in the brand’s transition to exclusively offer all-electric vehicles domestically by 2030, the automaker confirmed Friday.

The buyout offers, which are being outlined to Buick dealers Friday, are the latest efforts by GM to accelerate the company’s electric vehicle plans and transform its sales network.

All of Buick’s roughly 2,000 U.S. franchise dealers will be given the opportunity to take a buyout, Duncan Aldred, global head of Buick, told The Wall Street Journal.

“Not everyone necessarily wants to make that journey, depending on where they’re located or the level of expenditure that the transition will demand,” he told the publication. “So if they want to exit the Buick franchise, then we will give them monetary assistance to do so.”

Michelle Malcho, a company spokeswoman, on Friday confirmed the buyout plans to CNBC but declined to disclose the expected cost or how many dealers GM anticipates will take the offer. Many Buick dealers also sell GMC vehicles or another one of GM’s U.S. brands.

The company offered similar buyouts to Cadillac dealers in 2020. About 150, or 17%, of those 880 retailers accepted the offer rather than assume expectations to invest at least $200,000 toward upgrading dealerships for electric vehicles.

Buyout offers for Cadillac dealers ranged from about $300,000 to more than $1 million, a person familiar with the plans previously told CNBC. Malcho declined to disclose how much Buick dealers would be offered.

Buick’s EV plans are part of a broader $30 billion investment by GM into electric vehicles by 2025. That investment is expected to lead to about 30 new EVs globally from the automaker, which has pledged to exclusively offer electric vehicles by 2035.