By Jennifer Dawson
By diversifying high-end electric vehicle (EV) offerings, providing tailored service plans, and encouraging home charging, Vermont car dealers can help meet EV mandates in a high-end market. With Vermont adopting the California vehicle emissions standards, including the Advanced Clean Cars II regulation, state emission regulations are becoming more stringent — starting from the model year 2026, all new passenger vehicles sold statewide must be zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) by 2035. With the automotive landscape rapidly evolving towards electrification, Vermont car dealerships are poised to play a crucial role in achieving these mandates, while also catering to the preferences of high-end consumers.
Preparing for the shift: Vermont dealers urged to diversify high-end EV offerings
By expanding their EV lineup to ensure a diverse range of high-end EVs, Vermont’s car dealerships can better cater to the needs and preferences of affluent consumers, therefore facilitating increased adoption and compliance with mandates. Partnerships with luxury manufacturers like Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz, in particular, can strengthen dealerships’ EV offerings, as well as bolster their position in the high-end market, enhancing brand reputation and attracting affluent customers. For instance, the 2024 Audi Q8 e-tron is a popular, fully-electric SUV that prioritises comfort, quietness, and functionality. With three power outputs, the car provides versatility and performance options tailored to the discerning preferences of affluent buyers. Alternatively, the 2024 BMW iX is another high-end fully-electric SUV that redefines luxury driving experiences with its cutting-edge technology and sustainable design. Four-zone climate control and heated seats, in particular, ensure unparalleled comfort and refinement for discerning drivers and passengers.
Following that, Vermont dealerships can further enhance compliance by providing tailored customisation options, ensuring that high-end EV purchases align with individual preferences and lifestyle needs. So, by collaborating with automakers to offer bespoke features and design elements, for example, dealerships can elevate the ownership experience and entice affluent buyers. For instance, custom interior packages allow customers to choose from premium materials such as leather, wood, or Alcantara upholstery and personalise their EV’s interior. Additionally, advanced tailored technology upgrades like upgraded sound systems can bolster entertainment options, while advanced driver assistance systems also improve safety and convenience, further elevating the driving experience and meeting the demands of high-end clientele.
Increasing luxury EV ownership with tailored service plans
By providing premium service packages tailored to EV owners, Vermont dealerships can further incentivize EV ownership — therefore better ensuring mandate compliance. For instance, priority scheduling allows customers to schedule service appointments ahead of other non-priority customers, ensuring they receive prompt attention and timely EV maintenance or repairs. This package feature is particularly attractive to high-end customers who value convenience and expect exceptional service experiences. Alternatively, specialised EV roadside assistance also reassures potential buyers they’ll receive quick assistance in the event of a breakdown. Roadside assistance services — like emergency EV charging assistance and towing to the nearest charging station — help address “range anxiety”, a common concern among EV owners, especially in the high-end market where customers may travel longer distances. By providing solutions for unexpected charging issues, dealerships increase confidence in EV ownership and encourage affluent consumers to make the transition to EVs.
Encouraging home charging: strategies for convenience and reliability
Vermont dealerships can also promote EV ownership by addressing the charging needs of affluent consumers, who may prefer the convenience of charging at home. Encouraging high-end customers to install home charging stations not only increases their convenience, but also ensures they have a reliable and accessible charging solution tailored to their lifestyle. This personalised approach fosters a sense of exclusivity and fulfills the affluent demographic’s desire for convenience and luxury in every aspect of their ownership experience. Dealerships can also highlight the availability of incentives for residential electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) installations, such as, those offered by the Powershift program through the Vermont Public Power Supply Authority (VPPSA). These incentives include free Level 2 home EV charging equipment and a $500 rebate, making EV ownership more accessible and attractive for Vermont residents.
With Vermont’s EV mandates in place, dealership’s must strategize to adapt their offerings and services to meet the evolving demands of the market. These efforts not only encourage the adoption of luxury EVs, but also pave the way for a more sustainable and environmentally-conscious future.
The author is a free-lance writer with no affiliation with pro-EV advocacy or business groups.
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Categories: Commentary, Energy, Transportation
we will bribe you to buy it/// hurry/// hurry/// bribe will end in six months///
Are you sure it wasn’t written by Johnny Bananas?
My thought exactly, Cathy.
Is this a press release by the WEF or the UN (but I repeat myself), or is it an advertisement by the American Automobile Dealer Assoc..
Pies in the sky about to fall and hit many in the face. Good to see the Vermont Legislatures, past and present, have legislated themselves, and the State, into a corner they can’t escape – it’s called reality. We all ready know the infrastructure can’t handle the EV fantasy (California and PG&E face planted all ready.) We all ready know car manufactures like Ford have car lots full of EVs no one wants or can afford. We all ready know fleets of EV buses sitting idle in lots that don’t run in cold weather. We all ready know the supply chain to build EVs is woefully unstable and breaking down. We all ready know the inherent fire and accident risks of EV vehicles and EV bicycles – the insurance industry will ding your premiums accordingly. We all ready know climate change is a psyop, conspiring to commit fraud, and money laundering.
The good news is once these cultists are removed and banished to the abyss from which they came; a new, more practicle, more reality-based, more intelligent set of people will come in and REPEAL every piece of lawfare warfare enacted. Any law enacted fraudulently is automatically repealed – no vote necessary. Their days of fantasy laden, delusional, pipe-dreaming fraud are over. Declared and decreed!
I know for a fact that my neighbor nor myself could afford an EV. And do you know how much it costs to convert a vehicle to allow a wheelchair? We are still paying, 9 years later on a Toyota van. There is no way, my sister, who is on SSI, could afford the payments on an EV wheelchair accessible vehicle. So, the state better get the wheelchair transportation back. Daft buzzards.
If they think we will be imprisoned in our homes because of transportation, they are sadly mistaken.
They are not taking my vehicle (or my ability to put fuel in it), my guns, my home or my property. And if they try they will be sadly surprised.
Agree with you 💯 %. I’m very close to spending years of hard earned savings on leaving here….
I would in a heartbeat but at my age and with the infrastructure that I have built along with my husband, on our homestead, I would be having to start over again. Unless I won the lottery. Then I would claim residency in another state before collecting my winnings so the state couldn’t get their filthy hands on it. But as much as I enjoy the state of Vermont, I do not enjoy the State of Vermont.
Actually, all you have to do is cross over to Mexico, become a citizen of Mexico, then cross back over and request asylum. You will be given money, food, shelter, and free transportation, within the US, to the destination of your choosing. Once you arrive at your destination, you will be given money, food, shelter, free medical care, social security, drivers license, a vehicle or moped, and a pre-filled voting ballot. You could also declare you are in the wrong body or you are the wrong color, the State will bend over backwards to accomodate you, validate you, and provide you with grants and endless services – free of charge.
More tax breaks and direct cash in their pockets for rich people at the expense of regular hard working tax payers. Just like the tax breaks and rebates given to solar panel buyers, who are mostly upper income. Just like the free ride given to Global Foundries (85% owned by the government of Abu Dhabi) for their electricity, (10% of all electricity used in the state). Global Foundries is allowed to buy directly from the grid operator instead of paying all the extra costs imposed by Green Mountain Power, which spreads Global Foundries’ obligations among the rest of their customers. Why are the employees of Global Foundries more important than the rest of Vermont’s residents? Or, more to the point, why are Vermont’s electric bills so high that one of the wealthiest emerites in the United Arab Emerates, with $850 billion in its Sovereign Wealth Fund, has to beg Vermont for welfare and gets it (because it pays half as much for its electricity at its Malta, NY plant)? How much better it would be if Vermont’s lawmakers stopped meddling with our electricity, and let Vermonters decide for themselves if an EV, or Heat Pump, or solar panels made sense?