General Motors is committed to electrification, pretty seriously. So seriously, in fact, that they offered Cadillac dealerships a “get with it or get out” incentive to support electric. And as it turns out, a decent number of places chose to “get out.”

About a year ago, GM made a deal with Cadillac dealers. They can either spend the money outfitting their locations to accommodate electric cars (charging, tools, training), or they can accept a cash offer to shut down. The offers ranged from $300k to $500k, depending on circumstances. Now that time has passed to decide, Automotive News reports that a total of 150 dealers have chosen the cash offer and will be closing down.

With Cadillac having (previously) a total of 880 locations, this means about 17% percent of dealerships are closing down. While that may sound a bit rough, this actually aligns with GM’s already established desire to reduce their total number of dealerships. They actually pulled the same move back in 2016, offering locations money to shut down.

There’s some valid concern for dealerships not wanting to embrace electric cars. Generally speaking, electrics last longer and require less maintenance than traditional combustion engines. This is due to fewer moving parts, less need for tune-ups or fluid changes, and things like that. Longer lasting cars means fewer people buying new cars when theirs run down. All of this is good for consumers, at the loss of potential sales for dealerships, so It's hard to feel sorry for them in this regard.

So what does this mean for us? Almost nothing. If you’re one of the unlucky few whose local Cadillac dealership is choosing to close down, then you’ll be mildly inconvenienced the next time you go to buy one. But if you can afford a new Caddy, then you probably can live with a longer drive.