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This week GM announces the California Value Selling initiative, an extensive pricing and sales training program, which it hopes will give Californians a reason to step into GM dealerships again. ‘We have lost an entire generation to the imports,’ said Frank Halvorson, a dealer with Prospect Motors Inc. in Jackson, Calif. GM’s California market share is 20%, compared to 34% nationwide.
The company hopes to recapture that lost generation in the country’s biggest car market by offering special prices and options on 45 models from its six divisions, excluding Saturn. Models as diverse as the Grand Prix SE Coupe, the Cadillac De Ville and the GMC Sonoma will be priced to give them advantages of up to $3,000 over their Japanese-made competition.
Value pricing is nothing new. GM and other car makers have offered no-dicker stickers on older models and Saturn’s one-price strategy has become the mantra of the automobile industry. But GM’s California program, which began in 1991, is the biggest for already-established brands and could herald a way of doing business nationwide if it is successful.
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