Car Wars
Is the employee discount the beginning of the end of retail mark-up in the automobile sales industry?
DETROIT (AP) - General Motors Corp. (GM)’s sales soared 41 percent in June to their highest monthly total in nearly 19 years thanks to a heavily promoted discount that allowed customers to buy cars and trucks at the employee rate, new sales figures showed Friday.
In response, DaimlerChrysler AG’ (DCX)s Chrysler Group said it will match GM starting July 6 with an employee discount program of its own. Despite falling sales, Ford Motor Co. (F) declined to match GM on Friday.
The commoditization of automobiles has been long in coming. Autos have been way overpriced for two decades.