Low interest rate extended again?

[IceSabre]

Anybody else starting to hear any rumors of GM extending the low interest some more?

My source is shaky at best... so just curious...

[8 SNAKE]

Haven't head anything, but it could be possible. Many didn't think that they would extend it to November 18, so who knows what they will do next. Lets cross our fingers and hope they do!

Las Vegas -- General Motors Corp. said its October market share will be "well above" 30 percent as the largest automaker benefits from no-interest loans that have boosted sales of its trucks and sport-utility vehicles.

General Motors expects October's U.S. annual auto sales rate to be 19 million to 20 million vehicles, up from 16.8 million in the year-earlier month, said Ron Zarrella, the company's North American president. The sales rate will likely fall to 15 million to 16 million next month and as low as 13 million to 14 million in December, he said at a Las Vegas parts-industry show.

GM surpasses goal to cut 10% of white-collar staff


LAS VEGAS -- An effort by General Motors Corp. to cut 10 percent of its white-collar workforce by the end of the year will actually yield a deeper reduction, the head of GM's North American business said at an automotive industry conference Monday.

"We're actually going to achieve about 12 percent by the end of the year" in North America, Ron Zarrella, head of GM's North American Automotive operations, told reporters Monday after his speech at the Specialty Equipment Market Association show in Las Vegas.

Zarrella said GM has planned for additional reductions in its white-collar workforce next year, and he said those would be achieved through attrition and other means.

The automaker announced the staff reductions in December.

Zarrella forecast total vehicle sales in North America for the year 2001 would come in at about 16.7 million units, and he said GM was set to record a year-to-year increase in its retail market share for the first time in about 30 years.

But the rental business has "fallen off a cliff," Zarrella said. "We will take 60,000 to 70,000 units of daily rental deliveries out of our plants for the fourth quarter," he said.

"That affects overall market share, but we still have a shot at overall share of 28 percent," he said. "If we can get our overall share to 28 percent, we'll be real happy." GM held a 27.8-percent share of the automotive market last year.

The entry-level priced Saturn Vibe and Pontiac Vue, two new vehicle entries scheduled to be introduced by GM in the first quarter of next year, could add about half a percentage point to GM's share of the market, Zarrella said. The Vue, a compact sport-utility vehicle, and the athletic, youth-oriented Vibe, are two of seven new car, truck and crossover entries planned for 2002 to 2004.

A new performance series in the works from GM's Cadillac brand, starting with an enhanced version of the Cadillac CTS, is expected to compete for a share of the luxury market against Mercedes' AMG and BMW's M series platforms, Zarrella said in his speech Monday.

He also said GM plans to build a new family of V6 overhead valve engines with state-of-the-art electronics and greater efficiency, available with up to 230 horsepower. Another family of compact aluminum V6 engines under development will be capable of generating more than 250 horsepower, and the planned Cadillac performance series will house some of its higher-performance models, Zarrella said.
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Cutting costs and the production estimates should give insight to your question.

[ZO6LS6]

Like to be a car salesperson, AFTER these incentives pass.......
Bottom line, they are forward selling their market/s..........
And what goes round, comes round..............:(

[Rick1]

Originally posted by ZO6LS6
Like to be a car salesperson, AFTER these incentives pass.......
Bottom line, they are forward selling their market/s..........
And what goes round, comes round..............:(

:( :( :(

IMO..selling Corvettes or any car for that matter..once the incentives end will be like..anything else..

or for a better analogy..real estate..

You look at one beautiful house with high taxes..and its 500 grand..

You look in a different town...with low taxes and its 750 grand..(just rough numbers to show the point)

When the financing incentives ease upward..the selling price will drop slightly to create demand...

The end result of what you pay will probably be so close..I would act now if you could...so you could enjoy the car...if you can't find what you would be happy with..then wait..

Figure out what your end result cost would be if you took advantage of the present deal..and make that offer to dealers when and if they can get you the car..

All told..buy the car now if you can find what you want.

[ZO6LS6]

I see yore pain!!!!!!!!!!!!
I represent (ONE) line of equipment.............
In model year 2000...........we had "Special", cost's.........subsidized by the mfgr....
Well, to make a long story short........we sold a Spit load of em'..........
Basically had ZERO competition, and life was grand.
Then, 2001 came.............
Incentives removed, and back to normal cost's..........
NOW, everyone wants to know WHY are the machines SO MUCH more than they were??.
Try to explain a 20% swing.....the udder direction.........:(
Of course, this will be a moot point for your industry.......IF we get the economy back on track......
Then it will be all ............again.

[Zoomin]

I think there's several reasons they will be extended a little while longer. GM has some union agreements that state they can't close plants, and pay is only slightly reduced when plants are idled. Since there's no benefit to shutting down plants, I would guess that they would use this time to gain market share.

They are also getting some buyers from areas they wouldn;t have otherwise - import buyers in particular. It's also keeping their competitors on their knees becaus eof the cost. Chrysler and ford in particular are not in a very good position cash wise right now.

[BrianK]

I think Zoomin's got it right with what it would cost GM to close plants right now..

Cash is fairly cheap now, though GM's recent credit rating slip doesn't help.

The low APR may continue, though not at quite such a good rate.

Also, they may not extend it on the Corvette.

They're supposed to announce that the GNP fell by 1% this month tomorrow. We're close to the textbook definition of 'recession' :(

[zman]

Their 0% until November 20th..........Always playing games aren't they!! Now the ball is on GM's court..........:o
Zman

[Jayzvette]

I think they will continue with a great rate but I don't think it will be Zero again

[BrianK]

Rick has since mentioned that allocations are starting to get cut back for the holiday shutdowns.

So it would seem GM will have less inventory to worry about and less motivation to cut rates in the short term.