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Non-Tech : GM - General Motors -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: porcupine --''''> who wrote (208)	3/11/1999 10:42:00 PM
From: porcupine --''''>	Respond to of 543

eGM --!!!!:> GM unveils world's largest virtual car showroom By Neil Kelleher NEW YORK, March 10 (Reuters) - General Motors Corp. on Wednesday put new car buying online, accelerating the No. 1 automaker's drive into cyberspace with a Web site where consumers can escape the dreaded haggling with auto dealers. The site, located at www.gmbuypower.com, offers users access to details about every GM make and model, independent third party price comparisions, vehicle inventory, GMAC financing and the ability to talk electonically to dealers of their choice. Speaking at a press event in New York, vice president and group executive of North American vehicle sales Roy Roberts told reporters that about 75 percent of GM's 7,800 dealers nationwide have enrolled in GM BuyPower, signaling a change in the way the company will do business in the future. GM became the first automaker to set up an Internet site allowing one-stop online shopping, but some rivals have information about their vehicles on Web sites. GM BuyPower includes specifics on more than 350,000 vehicles throughout GM's car and truck brands, excluding its Saturn division. "Make no mistake about it, this is the new GM," Roberts said. "The Internet is becoming mainstream America and this is the way business will be done in the future. This is just good business, absolutely good business." Roberts said GM is encouraging its dealers to offer their cars at the lowest possible prices on the Web site. Online shopping boomed during the Christmas holiday season, and consumers spent about $17 billion on Internet purchases in 1998. Ecommerce is expected to surge to more than $1 trillion by 2003, according to Internet researcher Forrest Research. GM said that while it has no specific sales projections for GM BuyPower, it expects the site to be highly successful. Roberts said he expects a majority of the 25 percent of dealers not currently enrolled in GM BuyPower to sign up soon, noting that there is no enrollment deadline for dealers. Analysts were less enthusiastic about GM's initiative. "The jury is still out," said Jim Wangers, senior partner at Automotive Marketing Consultants Inc. "I think that despite all of the research that carmakers have been doing, this is not going to replace the traditional car-buying experience." Wangers said that while online car sales will certainly increase in the future, consumers may be hesitant when it comes to "signing on that dotted line" via a computer screen. "This is supposedly the second biggest purchase you make in your life and I think consumers will want that degree of confidence that comes with that handshake, with that human interaction," Wangers said. GM BuyPower first debuted as a pilot service in four Western states in October 1997. An overwhelmingly positive response led to the national roll-out on Wednesday. The site is the only online service enabling consumers to locate the exact GM vehicle of their choice and find out about incentives such as rebates by vehicle identification number. Other online services can only direct consumers to a dealer who typically pays a fee for that lead and who may not have the vehicle the customer wants. GM BuyPower is available 24 hours a day, and will offer consumers access to GM-certified used vehicles through its dealer page. Trained and certified GM BuyPower managers will respond to consumers' electronic inquiries within 24 hours, GM said. ((--Neil Kelleher, N.Y. Equities, 212 859-1700))