General Motors Corp., looking for a jump-start to sales that have stalled since its popular employee discount pricing program ended, is offering a $500 gas card with the purchase of a 2005 or 2006 mid- or full-size pickup or SUV, the automaker said Saturday.
The world's No. 1 automaker also is reviving a program that allows customers who already lease GM products to get out of their contracts up to six months early, if the lease expires between Nov. 1 and April 30.
Both offers are good through the end of October, GM spokesman Joe Jacuzzi said.
"Our dealers are getting a limited number of (gas) cards to support some of the local marketing promotions," he said. "This is a tool for dealers to use at their discretion — another tool in their tool box."
Gas cards will be allotted to dealers based on their sales history, Jacuzzi said. He declined to provide specific numbers, citing competitive reasons.
The Detroit Free Press reported Saturday that the latest round of promotions also includes an additional $500 on existing rebates for 2006 full-sized pickups. Jacuzzi confirmed the gas card offer and the lease pull-ahead program but said he was not familiar with any plans to increase existing rebates.
GM in June became the first of the Big Three to let customers pay the employee price for vehicles. Sales skyrocketed 46.7 percent that month, prompting Ford Motor Co. and DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group to match the offer in July.
The program boosted GM showroom traffic until September, when inventories became depleted and sales dropped 24.2 percent. When its employee discount program ended Sept. 30, GM lowered the prices on 30 of its 76 models and added features to other models to make them more competitive.
GM sales were down 57 percent in the first nine days of October compared with year-ago levels, according to Power Information Network, a division of J.D. Power and Associates.
GM lost $1.4 billion in the first half of 2005 and is to announce third-quarter results Monday. Analysts expect the automaker to lose $450 million in the July - September period, the Free Press reported.
— Reported by Jim Irwin, Associated Press; |
