Sam Krahn 
General Motors, in case you haven’t heard, is betting big on electric vehicles. The GMC Hummer EV SUV and pickup are the flagship models in this electrification push, and they’ll radically change the way customers buy a cars from General Motors in the coming years. The Detroit Free Press is reporting electric Hummer customers will work with GM directly when ordering and purchasing their vehicles and the dealer won’t get involved until the very end.
All sales for the GMC Hummer EV pickup and SUV will be online-based for the first two years, approximately. Customers will work directly with General Motors, rather than their local dealership. Part of this is because of the changes dealers will need to make to sell EVs in the first place. GM already isn’t allowing just any dealer to sell the Hummer EV, but only dealerships that make the necessary investments.
By the time the Hummer is ready to reach customers, they will take delivery at the dealer and have some interaction, but these next two years will give dealers the time they need to change their buying processes. Rather dramatically, says GM, although they aren’t divulging more details just yet. But we do know the GMC Hummer EV truck and SUV will be the first to utilize this new buying process.
But just because the dealers are changing doesn’t mean they’re going away. GMC and Buick VP of marketing Phil Brook told the Detroit Free Press he sees a huge advantage in their dealership network, and they just plan to leverage them in new and exciting ways. In two years, customers may interact with dealers more, bu
Many GMC Hummer EV pickup customers have already placed their orders online, and the buying process will remain largely online while the early Edition 1 vehicles reach customers in late 2021. The same will hold true for lower trim levels that come later, and the SUV. The all-electric Hummer not only represents that initial shift towards electrification as a flagship for GM, but a change for how the company and its dealers operate as a whole.
