I am thrilled to announce that I have become a board member with the Texas Electric Transportation Resource Alliance, a group whose mission is “To guide and accelerate the adoption of electrical transportation in all its forms, in the most cost effective way, providing maximum benefit to the citizens of Texas.”One thing they mentioned, in the invitation, was that when they visited Electric Avenue, they felt that “Classic Chevrolet’s EV sales setup is miles ahead of everyone else.”
P.S. I didn’t quit my day job at Classic Chevrolet!
I would bet Classic is #1 in EV enthusiasm in the entire state of Texas.
What other dealership has done as much?
Tell your boss to consider handling a foreign brand, like the new Byton, in case GM continues to drag its feet on EVs.
P.S. No one deserves to be on this board more than you, Buzz.
Perusing the other board members, I noticed that the Vice President of Sales for BYD North America is on it too. I didn’t know BYD had a North American division.
BYD would be a good brand to consider adding to the dealership unless Trump’s tariffs are going to keep out Chinese cars.
“ ‘When BYD does launch in North America, we look forward to competitive sales figures here as well,’ the automaker wrote.”
“The BYD (Build Your Dreams) E6 was the best-selling electric vehicle in the world’s most populous country last year. Forget about Nissan or Tesla — BYD is the real electric stud overseas.”
Thank you. I’m kinda obsessed…
According to this video (start about 10:50), GM has committed to produce 20 all-electric vehicles “globally” within the next 5 years. Impressive, but does the word “globally” mean that not all of them will be available in the U.S.? Maybe few of them?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7MTeESzbg8&t=690s
That’s what it means. There’s a Buick version of the Volt that is only sold in China.
Dealers of American cars who want to survive the EV transition may need to represent a foreign EV brand or two as well, right?
I would imagine that their contract with the manufacturer would prevent that. What I’d love to see is a PreOwned EV dealership, where the buyer gets all the info they need.
Seems like I used to see dealerships that carried a major American brand and a foreign brand (Frank Kent Cadillac took on Honda at one time, I think, but maybe not at the same location). A long time ago that seemed to be a trend–dealers of American brands taking on a foreign brand (maybe because the Americans weren’t making small cars then).
Yes, a pre-owned EV dealership with all brands represented would be fantastic.
Would there be investors for such a dealership since sales might be slow for a long time?
How could it be gotten off the ground?
I know a group of people who were working on this a couple years ago. It will take investors more interested in changing the world, than a quick buck. I believe it would be profitable, but it would take more time to reach profitability than an ordinary used car lot.