Cadillac will soon be able to compete with Tesla and its other rivals as it moves to electric technology. It has reduced the number of dealers by nearly a third. GM used a buyout strategy for the restructuring, whereby mainly small-volume retailers opted in to join. American brands will have approximately 560 new dealerships, which is a significant increase from its 875 and 392 locations in the past three years.
Despite this, American luxury brands continue to be represented by more Americans than their Japanese and German counterparts. According to Automotive News, Cadillac has a retail network 60 percent larger than that of BMW and over double that of Lexus.
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Despite having an online showroom, “Cadillac Live,” the brand will continue to sell and service vehicles through their dealer network. Talk to Automotive News, General Motors vice president Rory Harvey said that the buyout was designed to ensure that the dealership network was committed to selling and servicing EVs. According to ReutersGeneral Motors was forced to pay $274 million in restructuring costs. These dealers were not prepared to invest $200,000 to $500,000 per store in the equipment and training to support the brand’s shift to an all-electric vehicle lineup that’s planned by 2030.
The first of Cadillac’s EVs will be the 2023 Lyriq. The Debut Edition come with a 100.4 kWh battery pack and an electric motor rated at 340 hp and 425 lb-ft (440 Nm) of torque driving the rear wheels. Cadillac has received expressions of interest from 216,000 people for the Lyriq, with the Debut Edition selling out in just 10 minutes. The brand is yet to announce how many special editions it will make, and the reservation status has yet not been confirmed.
