General Motors Looking to Increase Minority- and Woman-Owned Dealership Number
According to Eric Peterson, General Motors’ vice president of diversity dealer relations, the automaker plans to grow the number of minority- and woman-owned dealerships by 10 a piece in 2016. This adds to 2015’s overall growth of 12 dealerships owned by minorities and nine dealerships owned by women.
According to GM’s figures, 231 dealerships are owned by minorities and 234 are owned by women, but those combined figures still only account for approximately 11% of all General Motors dealerships. According to a breakdown of those 231 dealerships, 117 are owned by Hispanics, 49 by African-Americans, 34 by people of Asian descent, and 31 by Native Americans.
Peterson, who spoke with Automotive News on Monday, also said that numbers show that dealerships owned by minorities tend to be more profitable than the overall dealership average.
“I think it’s because of the quality of the candidates, whether it’s women or minorities,” said Peterson. “We follow up with them, making sure they have the tools they need.”
It was noted that the majority of minority-owned dealerships added in 2015 were those run by owners of other dealerships who were opting to open up additional locations, and that a number of dealers in the Women’s Retail Network are second- and third-generation owners inheriting dealerships from their families.
In order to increase that number for 2016, General Motors is planning outreach to women and minorities interested in owning their first dealerships. Specific ways and means were not discussed or elucidated.
News Source: Automotive News (subscription required)
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