After more than four decades, Assens Bil Center on Funen is closing. Owner Lars Hindsgaul does not want to sell electric cars and is closing the business.
Assens Bil Center on Funen has existed since 1982. But it won't last another year. Because owner Lars Hindsgaul doesn't want to sell electric cars.
He tells Motor magazine .
It's not because the business is making a loss, either. Even though the result has decreased over the past five years, there is still a plus on the bottom line.
But that's not a plus that they on Funen will throw away after the investments it will require to sell electric cars.
– We had thought that this transition would take 10 years, says Lars Hindsgaul about his decision.
But that's not how it's been. And the Danish car dealer is not alone. In 2020, a number of Cadillac dealers in the US said they would rather close than sell electric cars.
Back in December 2020, 150 of Cadillac's then 880 dealers in the US told the brand that they would not exclusively sell electric cars.
For the same reason, many dealers agreed to be bought out of their dealership contracts. This corresponds to 17 percent of Cadillac dealers in the United States.
According to American media, GM paid dealers somewhere between $300,000 and $1 million in so-called 'buyouts'. However, Cadillac later chose to reverse the decision.
Less than 3 years later, Cadillac management said that it would not only sell electric cars in 2030 after all. This may be due to the brand's failure in Europe once again.
In our latitudes, Cadillac should have been General Motors' spearhead in a large-scale comeback with all-electric cars. But as Boosted reported last year, the Americans closed a so-called flagship store in Oslo.
The car brand had previously rented one of the most expensive addresses in Oslo. But in August 2024, the lease was empty of anything with references to GM and cars.
A quick Google search shows that the American car group is still trying to get rid of the lease at Nedre Slottsgate 21, but the price is not stated in the sales list.