Chevy launches EV training road tour for dealership sales teams

To get customers comfortable with electric vehicles, Chevrolet says dealership salespeople first need to get comfortable with electric vehicles.

Chevy aims to improve staffers' product knowledge and confidence through a nationwide EV training program expected to draw 7,000 dealership employees. Hosted throughout the summer and fall in five states, the program combines educational sessions designed to dispel common myths with opportunities to drive EVs — from General Motors and from rival automakers — and compare the experience with that of gasoline-powered vehicles.

"We've had live drive events in the past. We've done five-city tours before. But this is the first time that we've been so EV-focused," said Michael MacPhee, Chevy's director of sales operations.

The training comes as Chevy greatly expands its EV lineup. The brand has three EVs in some of the biggest vehicle segments in the U.S. — the Equinox EV compact crossover, the Blazer EV midsize crossover and the Silverado EV full-size pickup. Chevy leaders say those entries create an opportunity to draw new buyers to the brand and grow its share of the EV market.

Additional variants are coming, including the base Equinox EV trim that offers a 319-mile range for $34,995 with shipping, a mainstream Silverado EV retail trim, and a front-wheel-drive Blazer EV that will be priced in the mid-$40,000s, said Scott Bell, vice president of global Chevrolet.

"We are helping them build energy and confidence that there is a market there," Bell told Automotive News, "and there's no reason we should let other manufacturers have it."

There's some evidence the strategy is working: Chevy said 52 percent of Blazer EV buyers in August were new to the brand, and it has seen customers coming from Toyota, Stellantis, Ford and Honda.

"It's 100 percent the goal behind the training tours: How do we grow our business to meet customers' needs who have the interest and propensity to buy an electric vehicle?" MacPhee said. "We're confident that the Chevy showroom is the right place to buy those."

Other automakers are investing in EV training for their dealership sales teams. Ford Motor Co. created Ford University, a virtual platform that offers instructional videos and uses artificial intelligence to help employees improve their product knowledge.

"We've put a lot of sales consultants in vehicles. We've got a very aggressive [employee incentive] plan because what we find is nothing sells an EV better than an evangelist EV owner," Marin Gjaja, COO of Ford's Model e EV business, said Sept. 24 at the Automotive News Congress. "We've created some specialization where we've tried to create primary people in the dealership who are really leaning into electric vehicles, and we continue to provide all kinds of supported materials at the point of sale."

Chevy invited sales consultants who work at EV-certified dealerships — having invested in chargers, tooling and equipment to sell and service EVs — to attend the trainings. Sessions have been held in Monticello, N.Y.; Fort Worth, Texas; and Atlanta. Two are upcoming in Las Vegas and Indianapolis. MacPhee said Chevy is considering adding more in 2025 based on interest.

The program covers topics including range and charging infrastructure, MacPhee said. For instance, trainers explain the energy recovery technology on GM EVs that improves range in cold weather, the long-term cost of EV ownership compared with an internal combustion vehicle, and how easily a vehicle with a 300- to 400-mile range can accommodate drivers who average 25 miles a day.

"What can move the needle on getting into an EV? Cost of ownership is one of our biggest levers that we can pull," MacPhee said. "Even with the electricity costs, savings on fuel can easily save you $100 a month. And as you get into the larger vehicles, like Silverado, that's even more true. So that's one that's really been resonating well with our sales professionals."

Dealers have wanted more EV training to help employees — and ultimately consumers — understand a new and different powertrain, said Andy Guelcher, who chairs the Chevrolet National Dealer Council.

Frontline sales employees who are more knowledgeable can start a conversation about EVs with a customer interested in a gasoline vehicle or one who arrives for a service appointment, Guelcher said. Assessing the customer's driving habits and lifestyle can determine whether an EV would be a fit now or in the future.

"Having conversations about it with as many customers as you can and creating that general awareness, I think, is superhelpful," he said. "It gives them a lot more confidence."

Training has helped create more excitement about selling EVs, he said. Mohawk Chevrolet, Guelcher's dealership in Ballston Spa, N.Y., also covers some of the cost to install chargers at employees' homes, which has encouraged a handful of staffers to buy EVs for themselves or family members.

More broadly, the Equinox EV was the second-bestselling nameplate, behind the gasoline Silverado, in August through Chevy's dealership employee purchase program. In May, by comparison, it ranked fifth among GM's EVs in the program.

"You learn more about the vehicle living with it, driving with it and you become our biggest ambassadors possible when you do that," MacPhee said.

After the first training session in New York, more than 8 in 10 attendees said they felt fully equipped to confidently sell the Equinox EV, Blazer EV and Silverado EV, compared with roughly 3 in 10 before, according to Chevrolet survey data. That's roughly on par with their confidence in selling gasoline-powered pickups and SUVs.

John Love, president of Bob Johnson Auto Group in Rochester, N.Y., sent about 50 sales employees from the group's five Chevrolet stores to the July session in Monticello. Their positive feedback prompted him to host a local version for service department employees.

He said his stores saw an immediate surge in EV sales — from fewer than four a month before the training to 15 in July and 41 in August. That's partly the result of increased availability, he said, but staffers also changed the way they talk about EVs with customers. Now, Love said, sales employees encourage customers to sit inside an EV for a product presentation, which often leads to a test drive.

"It made them comfortable talking about the vehicle and showing the vehicle," he said. "I think that was the big difference."

Michael Martinez contributed to this report.