35% Of This Chevy Dealer’s Sales Are Volts

When the Chevy Volt was first announced, some dealerships made a point to resist GM’s efforts to foist plug-in cars upon them, and many dealers still sell just a handful of the plug-in hybrids every year. But for one Chevy dealership in Quebec, new and used Volt sales now represent about 35% of its year-to-date business. How’d they do it?

Simply put, the co-owner of Bourgeois Chevrolet, Samuel Jeanson, put a lot of effort into training his sales staff on how to connect the Volt to customer needs, according to Green Car Reports. Jeanson also went through a lot of effort securing enough inventory to ensure there are plenty of options and prices available for potential buyers. Because GM won’t allocate enough new Volt inventory to the dealership, Jeanson has resorted to importing used Volts from the U.S., ensuring that at any given time there are at least 50 Volts in various configurations on his lot.

As a result of his dealership’s commitment to plug-in cars, the Canadian Electric Vehicle Conference awarded his dealership the Leading Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle Dealership Award, which is a great way to celebrate the dealership’s 50th anniversary. Meanwhile in America, car dealers are butthurt over a kinda funny Edmunds advertisement that is familiar to anybody that doesn’t sell cars for a living.

Car dealer franchises have come under attack by Elon Musk and free market fans alike over their monopoly on car sales, and there’s plenty of evidence showing that many salespeople aren’t well versed or motivated to sell plug-in vehicles.But Bourgeois is showing that traditional car dealers can be effective at selling plug-in vehicles, and perhaps if more dealership owners follow the lead of Samuel Jeanson, everybody can learn to co-exist.

More likely though is Elon Musk’s eventual victory over the “establishment” as many auto dealers refuse to acknowledge and embrace plug-in vehicles. And by the time they do, it’ll probably be too late.