DETROIT — General Motors is asking its U.S. dealers to sign an agreement committing to costly upgrades in anticipation of its coming deluge of electric vehicles, a request that has been opposed in swaths of the country where EVs remain a tough sell.
Some retailers are concerned the investment won't pay off if their customers continue to have little interest in EVs — and they question the need for a separate EV agreement in the first place.
Only a third of dealers in Virginia signed the contract, according to the Virginia Automobile Dealers Association. GM is "shooting a shot across the bow to see how we respond and what people say and think," said the association's president, Don Hall.