Gm Reverses Course, Extends Employee-price Promotion

[Itsme]

GM REVERSES COURSE, EXTENDS EMPLOYEE-PRICE PROMOTION

Discounts to Run Through Sept. 6; Chrysler to Continue Campaign Indefinitely

DETROIT (AdAge.com) -- General Motors Corp. surprised the auto industry today by extending its employee discount sales program through Sept. 6, a day after the consumer promotion was scheduled to end. The move came a day after Ford Motor Corp. extended its own version of the incentive pricing program.

The automaker said the discounts would continue on all 2005 models except the Chevrolet Corvette, Hummer H1 and Pontiac GTO. Those three models are virtually sold out, which is why they aren’t included in the promotion, a spokeswoman said.

[InfiniteNothing]

To some degree I see this move as somewhat unfaithfull to their customers bringing on depreciation like that.

[Jeffbx]

Anyone who buys or leases a GM car after this promotion ends is going to be screwed.

They seem to be digging themselves into a hole with this, and I don't know if there's a way out.

[SnowSurfer]

is the employee pricing really a good deal or are they hitting you with random fees and stuff and knocking the price back up?

[Yossarian]

make an appealing vehicle that isn't generic looking, gets good mileage, with good power and is fun to drive at a reasonable price?

[DJjeff1080]

My guess is that they are either planning on having a sale like this for a long time which would really just be lowering the price to a point where they have a lower profit margin but can gain more volume or they are expecting for the government or the labor unions to realize that they are being strangled by the high union costs and take action.

Either way, I am excited to see what comes from this and I am looking forward to buying an american truck in 3-4 years when there are too many forcing the price down below what they would be at in normal conditions.

Sorry...that was borderline finance. I am done. Go Ford!?

[InfiniteNothing]

make an appealing vehicle that isn't generic looking, gets good mileage, with good power and is fun to drive at a reasonable price?

Aren't the first two out of their control? I think the malibu, impala and maybe the cobalt fall into most of your categories. define an appealing vehicle. And you forgot to mention reliable.

My guess is that they are either planning on having a sale like this for a long time which would really just be lowering the price to a point where they have a lower profit margin but can gain more volume or they are expecting for the government or the labor unions to realize that they are being strangled by the high union costs and take action.

Either way, I am excited to see what comes from this and I am looking forward to buying an american truck in 3-4 years when there are too many forcing the price down below what they would be at in normal conditions.

Sorry...that was borderline finance. I am done. Go Ford!?

Ford did it too. Of course there were loads of restrictions and it was a shorter time.

[DJjeff1080]

Ford did it while I was in Europe...thanks for pointing it out.

[Jeffbx]

is the employee pricing really a good deal or are they hitting you with random fees and stuff and knocking the price back up?

No, it's actually a good deal while it lasts. However, it's killing the residual value of these vehicles (which wasn't high to begin with). That'll reflect in future sales - many people will end up with a car they want to sell, but they'll end up owing more for it than it's worth on the used market. It'll also drive lease costs up, since they are based on estimated residual values.