Buick-GMC counts on updated portfolio

Buick-GMC is counting on updated portfolio

Updated lineups and efforts to improve profitability and communication with the factory should help dealers cope with declining industry sales this year, the head of the Buick-GMC dealer council said.

"Most [of the vehicles have] either recently been redone or are brand new from ground up starting now. The portfolio is in really nice shape," said Todd Ingersoll, council chairman and CEO of Ingersoll Automotive in Danbury, Conn.

Buick will launch the new Encore GX this year, along with a freshened Enclave. GMC will launch the redesigned Yukon and Yukon XL. The 2020 Acadia, Sierra 1500, Canyon and Terrain also will be freshened.

Buick sales were flat in 2019, and GMC sales rose 1.5 percent, according to the Automotive News Data Center, vs. a 1.2 percent decline industrywide.

"Anytime you level off or have a slight dip, that puts pressure on everybody to have to tweak their operations to perform more efficiently," Ingersoll said.

New GMC and Buick product will keep dealers on the right track, he said.

"We have to trust that [General Motors has] got their finger on the pulse," he said. "It feels as though we're going to be fishing in the pond where the fish are."

As chairman, Ingersoll's top primary initiatives this year are increasing profitability, improving communication and simplifying incentives.

With input from the dealer council, Buick and GMC have made the Standards for Excellence program more attainable, Ingersoll said. For example, if inventories are slim, Buick and GMC can lower the targets. GM also increased dealers' floorplan credits on expensive pickups and SUVs, Ingersoll said.

When it comes to incentives, dealers are looking for simpler offers from GM. "You can simplify things by making them model-specific, not trim-specific, as an example. That makes it a little easier for everybody to be focused on exactly where they can deliver the most cars," Ingersoll said.

Buick and GMC's senior leadership team also has begun sending messages to dealers and hosting regional meetings about twice a year. And dealers have been meeting for brainstorming sessions in their regions and bringing their ideas back to the dealer council.

"We can actually have a list of things to knock down together," Ingersoll said.