Nearly 1/2 of Cadillac’s 940 Dealers Will Not Sell the ELR

Apologies in advance, this isn’t a post centering our coveted grail, the LS V8. Instead we’ll be talking hybrids, corporate, and sales. Ho-hum yawn worthy stuff, but significant when we take a look at GM as a whole.

I’ve spent a fair amount of personal energy poking on Cadillac’s halo hybrid coupe, the ELR. It looks killer, but is a snail in the performance department. For a steep MSRP of $75,000 (even with tax incentives and rebates), it’s tough to justify over other options in the luxury hybrid market.

But the news worsens for GM and Cadillac. According to an Edmunds report, about 410 out of the GM’s 940 Cadillac dealerships across the U.S will not be carrying the plug-in hybrid ELR.

And the big reason for these refusals? High training and maintenance cots.

“But those dealers “might look at (ELR) and say, ‘Ok, if I sell one of these, I got to have service charging stations, special training, a sales area. I have to buy special tools'” – Jim Vurpillat, Cadillac global marketing

The cost of tools, training, and other items can be as high as $15,000, Edmunds reports. A harrowing situation for the ELR, which Cadillac has been highly touting since news of its release.

via [Edmunds.com]