Essay by Eric Worrall
h/t Breitbart; “… we’ve given dealers who are not aligned with Buick’s future to exit voluntarily in a respectful and structured way …”
GM buys out around half of its Buick dealers
Dealers accepting the buyouts declined to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars to sell and service General Motors’ future electric vehicles.
Published Dec. 21, 2023
- General Motors has bought out around half of Buick dealers that declined to invest at least $300,000 to sell and service its future electric vehicles, a company spokesperson confirmed in an email.
- Dealers accepting the buyout will no longer sell Buick vehicles, but they can continue to sell GMC and Chevrolet brand vehicles, according to the Wall Street Journal.
- The buyouts come as GM significantly scaled back its EV rollout as the company deals with weak demand, manufacturing delays and low margins on EVs. Buick has no electric models on the market, but GM plans to transform the luxury brand into an EV-only brand by 2030.
Dive Insight:
The investment by dealers is intended to cover the costs of installing EV chargers, training staff to service EVs and other initiatives, according to the Wall Street Journal. Before the buyouts, GM had roughly 2,000 Buick dealers. However, a GM spokesperson told the WSJ that most Buick dealers have made the required upfront EV investments. As a result of the buyouts, GM said it will have around 1,000 Buick dealers left.
…
“This year we’ve given dealers who are not aligned with Buick’s future to exit voluntarily in a respectful and structured way; with the full support of our National Dealer Council,” a GM spokesperson said in an email.
…
Read more: https://www.automotivedive.com/news/gm-buys-out-around-half-buick-dealers-ev-electric-vehicles/703224/
As a small business owner I can imagine the anguish of dealers opting to give up businesses they have built over the years rather than follow GM into their high risk EV gamble. Running a business is more than a job, it is a labor of love – something you put your heart into, part of your identity as a person.
I’m guessing the dealers who accepted the buyouts felt they had no choice.
It is unlikely the $300,000 required investment to retool for EVs is the reason automobile dealers left the industry. There is big money in automobiles, a friend who runs a repair shop and towing service in a country town makes well north of $100,000 per month. The only reason I can think of for business owners bailing over a $300,000 mandatory investment is if the dealers thought they would lose a lot more than $300,000.
GM might have the political pull to demand and receive fat taxpayer bailouts when management incompetence drives the company into bankruptcy. Small independent automobile dealers not so much.
Merry (late) Christmas from Australia – I hope everyone had a day filled with love and loved ones.
Majority of car dealerships are not single “brand” sellers. And since they had to buy out half the Buick dealers MOST did not foolishly jump on the rapidly sinking ev barge.
Most is 50% plus 1.
So they sold 1000 and kept 1001 the kept the MOST.
Still what a PR nightmare! Half took a piddly little buyout to stop selling Buicks – why didn’t GM give them more time, in order to avoid this disaster? Or did they figure Buick would disappear by 2030 anyway, regardless of anything they could do?
GM has buried so many good brands, Pontiac and Oldsmobile and it looks like Buick in the near future.
What I don’t get is: aren’t the Buick-less dealers, the ones that will only sell Chev and GMC, going to need specialized equipment to service the Chev/GMC EVs and hybrids? What about the Cadillac dealers, I’m sure a lot of their line-up will try to compete with Tesla’s high-end E-cars.
“Or did they figure Buick would disappear by 2030 anyway, regardless of anything they could do?”
I think so.
“So many good brands” seems like too many good brands to a person who bought a foreign brand to avoid repair bills. Make one brand well.
I thought I had read the news article, that Buick was gone, along with Pontiac and Oldsmobile (but maybe not on the same timeline)? I thought it was an excellent idea, it would make it more obvious that Chevy has become the new cheap-s*** vehicle. Didn’t the Chevy Marketing Department used to display posters and stickers declaring, “Beat Buick!”?
The GM linueup used to be Chevy on the low end then “BOP”, Buick, Oldsmobile, Pontiac (I forget the order of luxury level across those three), then Cadillac on top.
Chevy used Chevy parts. Cadillac used Cadillac parts. The BOP triplets shared a lot of common parts except engines but by the 1980’s all five divisions were using Chevy engines, transmissions and many other mechanical parts.
Then GM got to sharing most vehicle platforms across CBOP with only Cadillac and Corvette (aside from engines) being the outliers.
I think it was more like Chevy (basic), Olds (bit more high brow than Chevy), Pontiac (“Sporty”), Buick (near or low end luxury), and Cadillac (luxury).
GMC trucks (“Chevys with lock washers”) on the side.
Of course, aside from sheet metal differences and changes to suspension tuning and sound insulation, it’s mostly the same crap with different labels.
Cadillac probably has the most differentiation, but even there you’ll note that the same cheap shit ignition part that brought Chevys in for recall replacements did the same thing to the Caddys.
Bean counters have been running GM for decades, that’s why their products have been Generally Mediocre for decades.
When using fuzzy words instead of numbers, 1001 out of “roughly 2,000” is half. “Most” is 80%+.
Exactly! If a kid got 51% on a test he’d totally fail it….just saying. This reminds me of the last election here in the US. Dems were calling it a “landslide” in Biden’s favor. Now I’m no great shakes in math, but there’s no way I’d call an 83 million to 79 million in favor of Biden (assuming that many real American citizens of sound mind actually voted for him only once) a landslide. Actually, based on my understanding of basic math, that’s more like just barely edging one’s opponent out.
It’s one thing to be optimistic, but yet another to be full of it!
You mean “full of optimism”, right?
It was an electoral, not landslide but sound defeat, but to the liberal MSM it was a landslide.
Apparently you don’t understand the US presidential election system, which is based on our republican form of government. Each state gets 2 electors plus one additional elector for each member of the House of Representatives allotted to each state.
And now you know why all the liberal states want all the illegals they can possible support with federal dollars, to bump up the number of representatives, since the once every 10 year census counts people, not citizens.
Now to “pass” the electoral test, you only need ONE more electoral vote than the loser. That is THE MOST.
83 million to 79 million = 5%
that’s a muddy oozing !!!
90% is a landslide
Re read my comment and try to understand the US system of electing presidents.
To repeat what Gregg posted and expound.
Reagan won in an Electoral landslide, 525 to 13. Mondale won only one state, his home state of Minnesota. A landslide! 97.6% to 2.4%.
BUT the popular vote was 58.8% to 40.6%. Big but not what YOU would call a landslide. In US politics it was what I consider a popular vote landslide.
Clinton was elected two times but never even received 50% of the popular vote.
He won his first term soundly defeating George H.W. Bush in the Electoral College by 370 to 168, an over 2 to 1 landslide, but only received 43% of the popular vote to G H W Bush at 37.5 with the third party Perot receiving 18.9%
His second term in the 1996 election, again a 3 way race with Perot playing spoiler, he received 49.3% of the popular vote and 379 electoral votes to Dole’s 40.7% and 179. So again a 2 to 1 landslide in electoral votes with just a plurality of the popular vote.
If you have followed the US MSM you would think Clinton was the most beloved president in recent history (before Obama) and that Reagan was widely hated. The numbers tell a different story, and tell the story of how biased the MSM is.
Obama won 2 electoral victories by wide margins but only received 52.9% of the popular vote in 2008 (2 to 1 electoral) and 51.1% of the popular vote in 2012 (3/5 to 2/5 electoral). Both times with no serious 3rd party candidate. And over his terms he continuously lost seats in the house and senate, and actually had major losses for the Democrats in state legislatures.
BTW, NO republican since Reagan has received more than 50,7% of the popular vote even though W Bush 2 times, and TRUMP! have been elected president. Tromp lost the popular vote by 2% to Hillbillary but wone 30 states plus one electoral vote from Maine and an almost 80 vote majority in the Electoral College.
The US constitution established a Republic with each State having its own rights. The SCOTUS has mostly destroyed that framework with the ruling that the interstate commerce clause means whatever congress wants it to mean and with the help of 2 constitutional amendments establishing the direct election of Senators and the imposition of the federal government’s ability to take money at the end of a gun barrel through the income tax.
End of RANT/Education on us POTUS elections.
Reagan’s second election, where Mondale only managed to win his home state of Minnesota was a landslide.
Dead wrong.
Most is only one more when speaking of 2 choices.
80% is way more than most, it is just your view of what most “should” be.
When a politician wins an election, he or she does it by getting the MOST votes, which in a plurality type election that can be even less than half.
And yes, they did use slick terminology to imply “like 80%” for someone who will assume a higher number than just 1 more than the number of dealerships bought out.
BTW, just look up the definition of MOST.
Any negative vote is from a level of ignorance that is quite scarry.
I don’t agree with their obfuscation, I am just stating a fact.
As any of your school teachers would have said in the past: If you don’t know the meaning of a word, LOOK IT UP! That is how we learn.
In current times, they seem to tell their students to just believe them and their preaching, don’t look anything up! So you are a female if you want to be, even when born a male.
GM took the 2008 bailout and Ford didn’t. The rest follows.
Oh, and they will still sell Buicks, Buick just won’t be the primary brand listed on their signs and advertisements.
Not if they refuse to retool for EV sales and service and Buick goes 100% EV
Yeah, they will. Buick will swirl down the toilet if it goes Full Retard, and we all know what Sgt Lazarus said about going full retard. Used sales and service of Buicks will continue for decades and not a damned thing corporate can do to stop dealerships from doing it.
Unfortunately that can only continue until the DunbRats decide to eliminate the sale of the juice that makes them go to the general public
Ok, I get it now. You are simply another Doomcryer standing on a proverbial street corner in your hair shirt and sandwich board proclaiming The End Is Nigh. Got it.
Coming to a California near you and reasonably soon if Gruesome Newsome and the Dumbrats have their way
And why would they want to? No dealer in his right mind wants a lot full of shit that won’t sell.
No, they will no longer own a Buick franchise and cannot sell Buicks.
Yes, they will still sell and service Buicks. Buick/GM has no authority to force people to stop selling, servicing and driving the cars. Once Buick has stopped making cars they are done. People will continue to own, sell, service the existing Buick cars, NO MATTER WHAT CORPORATE says.
Anybody can sell and service used cars They will not get new Buicks nor do warranty work on existing Buicks.
YES!!!! Because Buick/GM has said they are not going to BUILD ANYMORE CARS. They no longer matter at that point. They control nothing. They cannot stop people from doing anything those people choose to do. And there won’t be any warranty work because Buick will no longer be building cars, which means they will no longer have access to parts for cars they built in past, either. The manufacturers of those parts will continue to produce them because there will still be a market for those parts, Buick/GM won’t be included in that manufacturing stream anymore.
Essentially Buick/GM is Bud Lighting themselves. Shareholders need to take legal action against them for this stupidity.
Insert the word “new” before “Buicks.” Dealers can sell used vehicles of ANY brand, nothing GM can do about that.
Ditto for any “new old stock” Buicks still in their inventory.
Ex Buick dealers will not take $1 million from GM and continue to sell Buicks. GN is not that dumb.
There are many independent dealerships mainly selling used cars but they can buy extra inventory collecting dust from any franchised new car dealer and sell those cars too.
They will continue to do so, and Buick can’t stop them. All they can do is make them remove Buick from the signage and advertising. They will continue to work on Buicks and sell used ones, along with everything else they sell and service. Look at ev sales numbers across the board in US and then explain to me how Buick Corporate is in the dominant position in this. Shareholders need to go after them for abandoning their fiduciary responsibility to all those invested in them.
New cars and used cars are a whole different ball game. They will not be able to take possession of new Buick vehicles from General Motors and will not receive any of the dealer support given to franchisees. They will be like an independent garage when it comes to servicing the vehicles and will not be able to do warranty work and recall work, which provide a large portion of the profitability of most dealerships.
“They will continue to work on Buicks and sell used ones,”
Which is not the same as selling new Buicks and providing warranty repairs as well as having access to GM/Buick support for marketing and training.
Buick has stated they are not going to build new ones, they have no authority to control what is done with existing cars. They will continue to be sold, serviced and driven. Nothing Buick/GM can do will stop that.
GN will not sell Buicks to any dealers without a Buick franchise.
Any dealer that tries to sell new Buicks without a franchise contract will be sued by GM, and I’m sure GM has deep pockets. The former Buick dealers might be able to sell new Buicks sitting on their lot until they are gone after the Buick signs are removed.
The franchise contracts prevent GM from arbitrarily cancelling a franchise contract. The laws are mainly to protect the dealers from GM trying to screw them.
“ I’m sure GM has deep pockets”
Are you?
Deeper than any dealer.
And yet Buicks will continue to exist, continue to be sold, continue to be serviced. Buicks is stopping production of cars, they say they are going to build toys that no one wants. They are over.
You’re straining at gnats. As always, there will be a market for USED cars. While many, maybe even ALL, new car dealerships also have a used car department, that used car department doesn’t actually have any relationship whatsoever to any NEW car manufacturer. So while what you say is facially correct, MMMEH, WGAF?
Buick/GM cannot stop people from selling their cars, especially when they stop building cars. THAT IS THE POINT.
That’s actually kind of a dumb statement. They won’t be selling any NEW Buicks ’cause they won’t get delivery of any NEW Buicks. End of statement.
If all Buicks they have to sell are worse-than-useless EVs, no dealer with any sense will want to buy them anyway.
I hear the comments about warranty work, but that’ll dry up quickly once they push Buick into “full Climate Nazi.” It puts an end game of 3-5 years on any value for a Buick franchise.
Even Buick drivers with any sense will start dumping their Buicks as the network of dealers to do service rapidly shrinks.
Independents don’t get floor plan and sales incentive money, they can’t do warranty or recall work and they get no technical support and training from the company. I’ll bet you rarely see new vehicles sold by an independent.
An “incentive” to fill your lot with cars nobody wants can’t be made sweet enough for anyone but suckers.
Not necessarily.
The Ford dealership closest to me closed completely because Ford wants a $1 million commitment for the push to EV’s.
Pushing electric trucks that can’t tow even an empty trailer a long distance.
I think that in the UK the front trunk should be called the “froot”. Resist the Americanization! Froot, not Frunk! 😉
And another dealership opened nearby and is selling Fords, just not the crappy electric toys Ford is not selling because people don’t want that crap.
I think you made that up. Ford will require franchisees to service EVs under their franchise contract. No service, no new vehicles, franchise goes under.
Ford has already announced they are slashing ev production because they are not selling. So dealerships are going to continue to service and sell Ford vehicles, just not ev crap. Why? Because nobody wants ev crap. Your fantasy that people will be forced to buy ev crap is just that, a fantasy.
More from Government Motors.
The small but excellent independent garage I used to maintain my cars for many years has recently closed down. Why? Because the owner was approaching retirement age and was never going to get a return on the investment needed to update his life-expired electronic diagnostic equipment. He also had no interest in EVs whatsoever.
A great loss: his workshop gave great service and was trustworthy (something rare, as I well know from my previous experience of using franchised dealers to look after my vehicles).
That is the only problem with small independent businesses. They do great work, the owners are very conscientious and people friendly BUT they eventually retire with no-one to replace them.
It used to be that an owner would hire an apprentice to train for eventual ownership as a way of continuing the attraction of long term customers.
Those days seem to be long gone…
That bright young apprentice was, frequently or optimally, his son. Again, not so much anymore.
The problem summarised by BA and Yirg is much bigger than auto repair. The Jack-Welshian process of valuing employees only during their most productive years plus job training ditched in favor of college degrees while college degree curicula were loaded with poor economic investments will have a large cost. The generation that implemented the change benefitted and would also due okay if they pass on before they get the bill for long-retirement sociaism.
I used to do auto repair out of my shop. I quit when most vehicles on the road began to require costly electronic diagnostic equipment. I didn’t have enough business to justify the expense.
There haven’t been many car dealerships and service shops like Lambrecht Chevrolet in Nebraska. In 1946 Ray Lembrecht and an uncle started a Chevrolet dealership. He soon bought out his uncle’s share of the business and ran it with his wife (who did the bookkeeping) and a mechanic. The same mechanic stayed with the business until Ray closed the doors for the last time in 1996. Out of a hoard of over 500 cars, Ray had kept 55 new ones he’d never sold.
The auction in 2013 drew 15 to 25 thousand people to the small town of 1,700. Ray died in 2014 at the age of 96.
The exodus of Buick dealers may be the result of the automobile industry being mandated toward a Death Spiral.
The passion for electric vehicles to help achieve lower emissions in wealthy countries seems to be oblivious to the potentially insurmountable and uncontrollable challenges facing the automobile industry.
Zero emissions at ANY COST seems to be the direction being mandated by governments and the Environmental, Social and Governance movements around the world, to divest in fossil fuels.
https://www.heartland.org/news-opinion/news/is-the-automobile-industry-being-mandated-toward-a-death-spiral
After a while, regulators will discover PM 2.5 tire particulates, as well as emissions from manufacturing said EVs. Then, citizens will be dealt even more pain.
We are already seeing a focus on emissions from agriculture and some researchers have highlighted our own human emissions from breathing. Do not doubt that some want to end these emissions and will justify it as putting us out of our misery.
“We are already seeing a focus on emissions from agriculture and some researchers have highlighted our own human emissions from breathing. Do not doubt that some want to end these emissions and will justify it as putting us out of our misery.”
Yes, it’s been a slow-motion horror movie for awhile now, but things are starting to speed up and be more obvious.
The green movement has always been misanthropic and has referred to humans as a cancer instead of one the the many species on this Earth that deserves to live happily.
The Climate Fascists are the “Agent Smiths” of our society.
P.M. 2.5 is another junk science based stupidity.
If they were only ZEV’s. But they aren’t. They are Remote Pollution Vehicles with all the manufacturing emissions make elsewhere and power from grid electricity produce mostly from fossil fuels. At least outside CA and the Pacific Northwest with all their Hydro. What a scam.
I think what is going on is that Ford and GM embraced the electric vehicle transition as mandated by the government.
So far, you can build pickup trucks and large SUVs without having to worry about Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) and other regulations if they are battery-electric.
These large vehicles are where their profits are, and if they can make them electric, they no longer have to worry about offsets by selling small, fuel-efficient sedans and hatchbacks.
If the Biden Administration were serious about EVs long-term, they could throw Ford an GM a lifeline by slowing the schedule of the EV mandates. Ford and GM remain committed to EVs, but they need some relief from the mandates.
I know one thing with regards to GM – back in the day they had five different brands under their umbrella. Now it’s down to three, with Olds and Pontiac having been ditched several years ago. And eventually it will be only Chevrolet and GMC, assuming GM itself can survive its suicide attempts.
Lets see, Cadillac, Buick, Chevrolet, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, GMC, Hummer and Saturn, all at the same time in the early 2000s. In the US! Other countries, other brands.
Has Jesus who knows more about manufacturing than anyone else in the world bitten off more than he can chew?
Tesla Cybertruck deliveries hostage to battery production hell | Reuters
Then there’s the Ultiumate in EVs and who needs Android Auto or Apple Carplay for mugs?
GM Discontinues Sale of Chevy Blazer EV Due To ‘Software Quality Issues’ – News18
The Chevy Blazer EV Isn’t Alone. GM Owners Say The Ultium Cars Are A Hot Mess (msn.com)
Cars can crash twice in the same accident. Hopefully, software bugs do not prevent air bags from deploying.
Why are you referring to Elon as Jesus??
Most people think of him as the weathly engineer/industrialist from many a Heinlein science fiction novel, a real life Tony Stark (sort of…), or even someone who will play the part of John Galt in the future, ala Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged.
But no one has referred to him as Jesus, or any other kind of messiah.
God bless him, and all the people at his companies! They’ve certainly made things much more interesting in the engineering and space fields!
Why are you referring to Elon as Jesus??
Not me but the Mouth-
Tesla Cybertruck has a massive battery problem! | Auto Expert John Cadogan (youtube.com)
Still he might be the electric Messiah relatively speaking-
Rivian R1T Owner Says His Truck Has Been Out For Repairs For Eight Months (msn.com)
“Why are you referring to Elon as Jesus??”
Because when you listen to him you think ‘Oh Jesus, what a twat’
I’m not really much of an Elon Musk fan, but at least I can respect him because he PRODUCES something! He’s not a George Soros, who got rich only through buying low and selling high, and oftentimes attempting to destroy production in the process.
I think someone (GM spokesman) needs a math lesson
If you have 2000 Buick Dealers and 1000 quit selling Bucks to temporarily avoid the EV fiasco so you “have around 1000 Buick dealers left” it seems like only half will make the required upfront EV investments. Half is a far cry from MOST and paints a completely different picture
https://www.autonews.com/dealers/buick-dealer-network-shrinks-nearly-half-through-buyouts
The process is not over. The final numbers are not in. Nobody knows what the final numbers will be.
Is this a climate change comment?
More detail from: https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/general-motors/2023/12/20/gm-buick-dealerships-buyouts/71978066007/
Looks like a reduction of 47%, and mostly rural dealerships headed for the exit – at least using Michigan as a sample.
I think the 2000 dealership number includes Canada and other countries as there appears to be only 1100+ dealers in the US as of last month:
https://www.scrapehero.com/location-reports/Buick-USA/
Some serious mistakes in the article
Few if any dealers are leaving the automobile business.
They are just leaving the Buick sales business
Buick has only 1% of the market and these small dealers had only 20% of Buick sales
The claimed $300,000 (actually $300,000 to $400,000 in Detroit newspapers) investment is a lot of money for a small dealer who most likely makes most of his sales profits from selling GMC trucks
Based on GM’s third-quarter financial statement, the Buick buyout program had cost it roughly $1 billion through 2023. But the year’s not over
$1 billion through third quarter (full year 2023 tbd) about 1000 Buick dealers is at least $1,000,000 per dealer.
A small Buick dealer avoids an out of pocket expense of 300,000 to 400,000 and gets a $1,000,000 reward to stop selling Buicks, which did not sell well and the brand could even disappear in the next five year
This is a voluntary deal and probably a great deal for small Buick dealers who will continue selling GMC products. THEY ARE NOT VICTIMS.
The friend with a repaid shop who allegedly makes $100,000 a month is completely irrelevant. The ex-Buick dealers do not have to give up their repair businesses.
$100,000 of auto repair . towing sales a month may be true, But the net profit on $100,000 before taxes in the US would be about $25,000 for a car repair shop.
Buick dealers
$300,000 to $400,000 is out of their after tax net profits
The $1,000,000 .
CONTINUED
The $1,000,000 Buick franchise fee buyback will refund the $300,000 to $500,000 initial franchise fee and there will be $500,000 to $700,000 of gross profit for each dealer. Still a large net profit after taxes.
EV sales were BOOMING in the US and globally in 2023. Articles about the dying industry are predictions have been wrong. But they have so many disadvantages and cost so much that the boom could be in trouble in 2024. Used EVs prices are already in the toilet, even for Teslas. In the Detroit area a used 2021 Tesla 3 lost about 1/3 of its MSRP in just two years, while a Toyota Corola lost less than 10%.
The Honest Climate Science and Energy Blog: STOP repeating the conservative myth that EV sales are weak
Take a course, several courses, in economics.
I have a Finance MBA from New York University and wrote a for profit economics newsletter called ECONOMIC LOGIC from 1977 to 2020. I retired at age 51 in January 2005 to live on my investments. My wife also retired at age 51, four years earlier than me. We inherited very little from our parents.
If you have any specific economic questions about my prior comment, I will try to answer them.
…and yet you haven’t actually learned anything. EVs have any market at all only because of government subsidies and interference, and would instantly disappear the moment either (the subsidies or the government interference) ends.
Please explain how EV’s sitting on the dealers lots for over a year are economical and provide a profit for the Dealer paying the manufacture monthly for that sink-hole?
Yes, dealers PAY the Manufacture monthly for every vehicle they let sit on their lot. Some manufactures forgive payments if less than 30, 60, 90 days.
[My wife is a CPA, retired, passed on the first exam, finished so early the monitor asked if she had given up. Over ten years working at one of the largest auto dealer in the metropolitan area.]
EV fad will be dead by 2025. Telsa will continue to fill a niche market, GM will likely be bankrupt unless they get bailed out again, and the cost of EVs will continue to escalate, but will be hidden by all the subsidies. True cost of EVs is far higher than what the sticker price shows.
https://www.texaspolicy.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/2023-10-TrueCostofEVs-BennettIsaac.pdf
The EV price is lower than the sticker price if you include the $7500 tax credit. But thet are still too expensive.
I worked in Ford product development for 27 tears. In late 2022 an engineer friend on a Ford EV program told me engineers there were pessimistic about EVs and did not expect good 2023 EV sales. Some thought the company was doomed in less than five years.
They were half right.
US EV sales boomed in 2023
But not so much for Ford.
I have recommended hundreds of articles criticizing EVs on my blogs in the past few years. Every time there is EV news, EVs are worse than I thought. Low resale value is the latest problem. Low reliability per Consumer Reports was the last big problem. I can’t figure out why US EV sales are up 60% in 2023 versus 2022, through 3Q 2023, while ICE sales are up only 1% or 2%.
Numbers, not percentages, please. 🙂
Percentages often look much better though.
A 2% increase over 100,000,000 is 2,000,000
A 60% increase over 100,000 is 60,000
Which is better😘
“I can’t figure out why US EV sales are up 60% in 2023 versus 2022, through 3Q 2023, while ICE sales are up only 1% or 2%”
A $7,500 bribe from the government, along with a direct purchases by state and federal governments (and the USPS) mandated by politicians pushing EV’s.
YOY sales of EVs through 3rd quarter were up 48.7% according to Kelley Blue Book, 873,082 (2023) vs. 586,965 (2022).
Of all EV manufacturers, only Tesla has sold more than 50,000 vehicles in the year through Q3. Tesla will outsell the second largest EV producer (GM) by about 10X.
My data are based on registration and are from Experian
The Tesla Model Y will be the second best selling vehicle in the US in 2023
Ford F150 (almost all ICEs) remains number one.
Here’s the actual numbers and percentages
EV sales
Year – EV Sales Volume – EV Sales Share
2019 – 382,920 – 2.31%
2020 – 507,710 – 3.04%
2021 – 686,450 – 4.09%
2022 – 824,050 – 4.91%
2023 – 1,000,000 – 6.29%
15,500,000 ICE sales in 2023 – the other 93.71% of sales
“Sales are booming” so 47% of Buick dealers decided to leave the market???
While it’s nice that sales are increasing, but if they are not what was expected and cars are remaining on the lot for a long time, then definitely sales are not booming.
You deserve a refund on your tuition from the MBA.
And another thing, taking a one time payoff of $1M and giving up years of profits from selling the actual cars is not a sign of a “booming” market.
If you were a Buick / GMC dealer with a small amount of Buick sales and did not see a future for all EV Buicks, then who are we to tell a small dealer to take a chance with his $300000 to $400000 in after tax profits?
The last article I saw about new EV sales reported dealers were shipped way more EVs than they could sell, and have begun to beg the factory not to send them anymore. Their inventory churn is well in excess of 100 days on the lot. Now I don’t have the reference, you can look it up as well as I can, maybe quicker.
Buick dealers do not sell EVsso the 2023 sales are irrelevant to them. Some small dealers did not see a future with all EVs in the Buick line.
Buick’s first electric vehicle is expected to be available in 2024, with plans for an all-electric lineup in the U.S. and Canada by the end of the decade. All future Buick EVs will carry the name Electra
Buick did not sell an EV in 2023
Chevy BEVs were up 133% in the first threequarters of 2023 versus the first three quarters of 2022.
All US BEVs were up +60% in 2023
Some “EV” sales claims include PHEVS, which were up less than BEVs
My finance MBA enables me to have a six figure income in 2004 at age 50 and I retired at age 51.
90% of EV sales have been in China, the US and Europe. The rest of the world which is responsible for around 33% of of all car sales is not so keen. Sales in Japan, for instance, have been stagnant for several years.
The top five countries for EV sales are Norway (80% of sales in 2022), Iceland (41%), Sweden (32%), The Netherlands (24%) and China (22%)
Many dealers in small towns have all the franchises for one or more automakers. If Buick is going all EV, the franchise will have very few sales in rural areas so it’s a no-brainer to take cash for the franchise.
You’re right, at least in the Michigan area it was the rural dealerships taking the bailout:
https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/general-motors/2023/12/20/gm-buick-dealerships-buyouts/71978066007/
Has the meaning of the word “most” changed?
All meanings change in the hands of the corrupt politician. Just ask Bill Clinton what the meaning of the word “is” is. And maybe at the same time he can explain the meaning of “Monica Smoking Lounge”.
It does not hurt to remember the ‘Clinton Follies’.
Techically it’s right – 47% took the bailout so far and if no more take advantage then 53% is most – but barely.
Personally I wouldn’t use “most” without a qualifier unless it was at least 60% or more.
53% is more honestly described as “bit more than half” or possibly “barely most” but still it is most… for now. More dealers might decide to bail if sales don’t meet projections.
There is also a dealer perception that they will lose a great deal of their income due to diminished service revenues from EVs. (I’m not sure about that. They will probably use technology to limit the ability of independents to fix the things. And although there will be big differences, we will be drawn to paying more overall for repair like nature abhors a vacuum.)
Service-related revenue for new car dealerships has slipped in recent years because modern cars require less service. My last Honda’s service and maintenance cost was $250 over five years … five oil changes.
I would not count are lower service revenues from EVs
Reliability is terrible so far
And any accident that dents a battery case could be a huge repair job unless the car is scrapped.
No oil changes for EVs but ICE oil changes are always too expensive at new car dealers. Same with new batteries.
EV tires will wear out faster from the extra weight.
“well north of $100,000 per month”
profit or gross revenue?
Maybe people rich enough to buy an EV prefer to buy a “fancy brand” like Tesla or maybe Toyota (or any Japanese brand) rather than an archaic brand like Buick or any GM model.
I’m Toyota guy- with a Tacoma and a Rav4. Previously, it was Chevy and Ford- both of those totally sucked.
story tip – https://x.com/ChrisMartzWX/status/1738713865272340509?s=20
The ‘Hottest Year Ever’ – Arctic sea ice extent is now 3rd highest in the past 18 years.
BS
December 5, 2023
Latest monthly report
Arctic sea ice extent for November 2023 averaged 9.66 million square kilometers (3.73 million square miles), tying with 2006 for seventh lowest in the 45-year satellite record
SOURCE:
Arctic Sea Ice News and Analysis | Sea ice data updated daily with one-day lag (nsidc.org)
DATA CHART
http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/files/2023/12/monthly_ice_11_NH_v3.0.png
WRONG as usual, about anything to do with climate reality.
Today is NOT December 5th.. btw!!!
Day 359 (Christmas day), NSIDC shows 2023 Arctic sea ice extent as above EVERY year back to 2006 except 2014.
Thank you bnice.
How can you possible look at this 44 year official data chart and declare the long term declining Arctic sea ice extent has ended?
http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/files/2023/12/monthly_ice_11_NH_v3.0.png
I believe we are approaching a transition point where the long-term warming trend may come to an end soon. The decline of Arctic sea ice has significantly slowed over the past 16 years, which I consider to be a more meaningful indicator than the global average temperature . This is just my perspective. No one can accurately predict the future behavior of the climate. Here’s a brilliant guest post written by Javier Vinos:
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2016/10/07/evidence-that-multidecadal-arctic-sea-ice-has-turned-the-corner/
Hear, hear!!! The “global average temperature” does not exist in reality. To even begin to approach such a number would require taking simultaneous measurements from EVERY weather station involved at precisely the exact same time!!! Which will never happen. But even if it could, we do not have enough recording stations at enough locations to even approximate a “Global Average Temperature™”. Mark Twain reportedly stated, “There are lies, damn lies, and statistics!” We have been in the realm of statistics since at least 1978, and probably a good deal longer than that.
A meaningless graph, starting at the EXTREME high extent of 1979.
There is still way more sea ice than there has been for nearly all the last 10,000 years.
That should be “back to 2005”
It is highly likely that in the next couple of days it will be above 2014 as well as above 2004.
Junk science extreme data mining to reach a conclusion you personally like with no attempt to be unbiased.
360 days of 2023 data are available which clearly show a below the 1981 to 2010 average ice extent … but you data mine one of the 360 days of and then predict the remaining five days of 2023, as if that is not biased at all. It is just claptrap junk science extreme data mining
http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/files/1999/12/asina_N_stddev_timeseries1.png
You should get the real data and analyse it yourself.
Are you even capable ???
Your link only goes to 4th December.. try again, and stop showing you incompetence.
FTP directory /DATASETS/NOAA/G02135/north/daily/data/ at sidads.colorado.edu
Try not to remain IGNORANT !!
Don’t let your blustering arrogance get the better of you all the time.
“360 days of 2023 data are available”
Then why post a graph going only to 4th December.
Stop making an ASS of yourself !
MASIE shows basically the same thing.
Day 359 2023 has Arctic sea ice above every year back to 2006 (when MASIE started) except 2012 and 2014..
Value is very close to 2012 value (4th figure difference), so the slight discrepancy is insignificant.
What is also interesting is that the Antarctic seems to be fighting back against whatever caused the drop in sea ice over the last year or so.
Day 359 extent is above 2016, 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022
Evidence indicates a potential rebound in Earth’s ice extent, implying a potential trend toward global cooling.The current state of the Arctic is particularly noteworthy as it approaches levels seen in the early 2000s. These levels were only reached once since then, in the year 2014.
Also Greene Dick seems to really not like cold. 🙂
He is just mistaken about a whole lot of things.
And arrogant about it, to boot !
Anyone that keeps linking to their own blog, is basically just attention-seeking.
I haven’t analysed OSI NH data but apparently, on 23rd Dec, they have extent greater than in 2014
nb… says 24th, but after a quick look at the actual data I’m pretty sure the graph shown is for 23rd, the values are really close.. so I’m saying “essentially the same “)
childish insults
bad science
My blogs have had over 680,000 page views
which would be 679,998 more than people who read your comments here. And I’m assuming yo’ mama reads your comments.
If you believe I post false data, specify which numbers you think are wrong, and why, or quit your bursts of rude verbal flatulence.
A long term Arctic sea ice extent trend is not determined by what happened yesterday.
So what.
You are irrelevant except in your own mind.
VERY wrong about many things, but too arrogant to admit it.
The statement made initially by pyroclastic2003 was totally and provably CORRECT from actual measured data,
GET OVER YOURSELF !!!
A question for you Mr Greene
Actually 2
Q1) Pot or Kettle?
childish insults
bad science
My blogs have had over 680,000 page views
Childish insult central…really? Yo Mama??
Check the sidebar banner near the top of the page.
This site has been visited more than 1/2BILLION times. I’m sure many more than 2 people read most of the comments.
Back to Q 1)
childish insults
Seems you gave me a rather childish insult in another thread regarding permafrost and peat growth rates.
Just in case you forgot (you’ve yet to respond beyond childish insults)
Over in the “Hottest in 125,000 Years” thread you posted
Nicholas McGinley
Reply to
Bryan A
December 26, 2023 1:27 am
How does it feel inside your head to be an actual idiot, and wrong about everything?
Apologies Mr Greene, the quote attributed to you was actually from Nicholas McGinley…though the insults he throws are similar to yours
“had over 680,000 page views”
SO WHAT. !!
You arrogance is only matched by your petulance. !
As you keep showing, your data is not up to date..
Do something about it. !
“over 680,000 page views”
Have you considered that “possibly” a bunch of those ‘page views’ are to find out how wrong you might be?
“I wouldn’t want to call our Liberal friends stupid or even ignorant, it’s just that they know so many things that just aren’t so”. Quoted (from memory so maybe I didn’t get every comma and implied inflection exactly correct) from Ronald Reagan.
No one likes cold.
Except ski bums
Average Arctic sea ice extent for September 2023 was 4.37 million square kilometers (1.69 million square miles), placing it fifth lowest in the 45-year satellite record
I have the data
You have the claptrap
The actual data up to date for 25th December, is available.
You DO NOT have it !
If you did you would know that…
Day 359 (Christmas day), NSIDC shows 2023 Arctic sea ice extent as above EVERY year back to 2006 except 2014.
That is what the actual data shows..
Nothing your pathetic whinging and blustering can do about it.
“extent for September 2023″
We are not talking about September.. we are talking about NOW.
Try to stay somewhere on topic. !!
September, the lowest month of the year for the Arctic sea ice extent, which has been in a serious downtrend for over 40 years. It did not stop in 2023. The peak Arctic ice has not been in such a steep downtrend.
But anyone who cherry picks one day in 2023, and thinks that one day is proof of a reversal of a 40+ year Arctic sea ice extend downtrend, is wild guessing and most likely wrong. Also is a data mining fool.
Nobody should like the cold – cold is deadly – not much like in the Arctic or Antarctica (unless you look under water where it’s much warmer).
One might look at the barren Sahara but you would also have to compare it to the Amazon, Congo and Borneo rainforests – heat is obviously not the determining factor!
However near the poles cold is definitely the determining factor for life, and little oasises like Scandinavia survive because of warm ocean currents.
Cold bad.
Heat good.
The planet would be better off if the poles completely melted and all that wasted water was put back into circulation.
At least true environmentalists would say that if they weren’t patsies for foreign oil interests and misanthropic/racist oil trust fund kids.
Yes, the negative impact of cold on life is evident. Yet, as a purist, I advocate accepting the Earth for what it is and allowing it to undergo natural changes without interference. This ongoing process is beyond our control, and rightly so; we neither can nor should try to dictate or alter it.
December 5 was the latest monthly report
The next (December) monthly reprt is the first week of January
I reported the month of November while you cherry picked one day in December
The November chart at the link I provided CLEARLY shows a long term downtrend.
You are data mining ne day to obscure the long term trend because you are a boozer and loser.
No, Greene Dick. The concept of time is an arbitrary division of any trend. Climate doesn’t reset on the first day of each month; that’s why it’s essential to examine its behavior at specific points in time.
Data up to 25th December is readily available.
it shows that
Day 359 (Christmas day), NSIDC shows 2023 Arctic sea ice extent as above EVERY year back to 2006 except 2014.
If you were capable you could download it and verify that fact.
Why take outdated reports from AGW proponents ?
Not a scientist …, are you Greenie !!
Data mining one day in December2023 while ignoring the first 11 months of actual data for the year 2023 is claptrap junk science. And you love it.
Only 7th lowest since 2006, in spite of all the extra CO2 emissions???
There’s at least an extra 40ppm in the air since 2006 (roughly 2.5ppm per year though sometimes 3).
And certainly “Top 3” beats “7th lowest”.
What if it was the 45th lowest in the 45 year record, would you still be worried about “The End”?
Why would I care about floating Arctic ice?
Melting does not cause sea level rise
Polar bears are great swimmers/
The September low Arctic sea ice extents have had a strong positive correlation with global warming and CO2 emissions.
Large-scale surface ocean currents are driven by global wind systems that are fueled by energy from the sun. These currents transfer heat from the tropics to the polar regions, influencing local and global climate.
This heat distribution process is called advection.
All Arctice warming since 1975 has been in the coldest months of the year.
The darkest time of year at the North Pole is the Winter Solstice, approximately December 21. There has been no sunlight or even twilight since early October. The darkness lasts until the beginning of dawn in early March.
Yes, your evident personal sentiments create a substantial and inaccurate bias on your part. Instead of adopting a trend-focused approach, try to scrutinize patterns. If there is a considerable and prolonged slowdown in the decline within the recorded data, the greenhouse gas dominant theory is wrong.
Here is a graphical representation of the minimum arctic ice since records began and including 2023.
It seems to have stabilized.
You might say this is less relevant than the total extent. Maybe true. But the minimum extent was very important when it was dropping. Cherry picking seems to be common in the climate debate.
If you ask any dealer service department warranty work won’t be missed because usually it’s done at a loss compared to post warranty work due to corporate allotted times more often than not are fantasy. And any work that requires electrical diagnostics, especially intermittent problems, are usually done at a loss unless it’s T&M. When you have a car that is primarily operated on electricity the problem is exacerbated.
I’d bet that GM didn’t really see this coming, but once they were committed, they had no choice but to move forward. I’d have thought that GM would front the capital costs for this new niche, but the dealers must have seen massive downsides on the plan to bail in such numbers. At a guess, these are also the smaller dealers out there and can’t afford the downside risks.
When less than half the population will be able to afford to buy a car, it makes sense to cut the number of dealers in half. Probably need to cut back from there.
It’s interesting that you said “less than half the population will be able to afford to buy a car” and not “a new car” which I think is prescient not a typo.
With high prices and interest rates, and the need to install a high power recharger at your home to avoid charging line ups, etc., forced EV mandates will mean a vastly contracted market for new cars post 2030.
Yes, the collateral unforseen consequences of banning ICE and enforcing EVs are going to be huge. Falling sales and ownership are the most obvious and the most immediate, but its what happens after that that is the big one.
I don’t believe for one second this is “…collateral unforseen consequences…”, I believe the authors of this inane asinine policy considered it a feature, not a bug.
I believe it was the Free Press article that nonchalantly mentioned that 20% of Cadillac dealers took a similar buyout back in 2020 I think, so GM has already been through this and this is just “the other shoe dropping ” – look for similar announcements next year from Chev and GMC.
The article is basically a press release, full of happy-happy, less is more and stronger BS.
There’s no reason Buick dealers had to be forced to accept the “totally voluntary” buyout offer if they didn’t want to make the investment for EVs – customers would just take the EV to a Buick dealer that did, and the selling dealer would forego the maintenance revenue, that another commenter said isn’t lucrative at all.
The fact that GM is offering buyouts instead of new franchises is a definite sign that GM expects the market to contract, and is trying to keep the remaining dealers viable by concentrating on fewer dealers.
What a great “booming” market, eh Richard Greene.
2023 US EV sales up +50% to +60% from 2022 while ICE sales were up 1 % to 2%
US EV sales were booming in 2023 and that is a fact no matter what you want to beieve.
For RG: didn’t this also happen with Ford?
Ford split into three divisions recently – Ford Blue (their traditional ICE), Model e, and Pro. Farley said in an interview that for Model e they did tell the dealers they had to sign new contracts with specific clauses about non-negotiated pricing, installing customer charging station(s), ev training, and a fee.
There were two levels and which one you chose determined your allocations, whether you received demos. If you didn’t sign you didn’t get any EV allocations and had to wait two years to signup.
They wanted to do similar for Ford Blue but their lawyers said they couldn’t because of franchise laws. I don’t remember what they did with Pro.
There was instant outrage from dealers, dealer associations and legislators.
Suits were filed. There was talk of Congressional hearings.
I think Ford made a couple of concessions to the Model e rules but it is still an ongoing fight.
As of last week:
Ford said last Thursday that half of all 1,550 Ford dealers chose to sell electric vehicles in 2024—down from two-thirds that said this time last year that they would opt in to sell EVs for 2023.
This was obscured in most places by the Buick news because those dealers decided they would not sell any Buicks. The Ford dealers just said they wouldn’t sell Ford EVS.
Sure looks like a “booming” market!!
Deep state government workers and corporate executives are in a real race to see who is more brain dead.
When I worked at Ford from 1977 ti 2005, the CEOs used to battle the government on behalf of the customers. Around the year 2000 they started taking orders from regulators without a fight
Now the Goobermint says “Jump”
The aur to executives ask “How high?”
About 40% of the US population can not afford the cheapest new Tesla EV and they don’t need a $7500 tax credit because they don’t owe federal income taxes
Yeah the new Buick service coveralls look pricey.
If demand for EVs is inconsistent and if GM isn’t making adequate efforts to introduce smaller and cheaper ones to entice hesitant buyers, the dealers are doing the right thing. Buick may claim it’s going all electric by 2030, but unless sales pick up, it might find itself changing its mind after it finds it’s saddled with excess inventory and production facilities that aren’t needed to meet a stagnant or shrinking demand.
Weird… some sort of contradiction to me… “significantly scaled back its EV rollout” YET “bought out dealers that declined to…etc.????
“It is unlikely the $300,000 required investment to retool for EVs is the reason automobile dealers left the industry.”
“left the industry.” ?
“continue to sell GMC”.
Don’t offend an audience with reading comprehension skills.
The half way house is doing just fine cutting into those long waiting queues of city slickers-
Toyota’s global output surges to record in November on strong demand (msn.com)
So there’s 2,000 Buick dealers and after the buyouts GM will have “most”of the Buick dealers spending the $300,000 and that there will be around 1,000 Buick dealers left.
Sooo, BOTE math says there should be 1,001 Buick dealers still around by 2030?
How is contracting the “sales interface” by 50% a good thing? Imagine if WalMart or McDonalds shuttered 50% of their locations.
“if WalMart or McDonalds shuttered 50% of their locations”
It would improve the health of the nation !!
Boat dealer I work for turned down Mercury outboards as he would have been forced to buy/stock electric outboards as well as the gas ones.