Desperately seeking sales

For the next six weeks the option has become available to drive a car for free during two months.
No need to rent one.
Just go to a GM-dealership, buy a Chevy Malibu, a Buick LaCrosse, GMC pick up truck or a Cadillac and return it after two months.
They'll give you your money back no questions asked.

This campaign GM calls "May the best car win".
But marketing experts say it is just a gimmick.
A customer who goes through all the effort of going to a dealership, selecting a vehicle and the process of paying for it, is not very likely to return the car after two months to have to go through new hassle and then start the whole process of purchasing a car again at a Toyota dealership.
Research has revealed that only 2 % of the customers when in such a deal will actually return the car.

It would be a different story if other brands like Ford and Toyota would do the same thing.
We pay, let's say $ 20.000, into a special bank account and next we are allowed to drive first a Ford for two months, then a Toyota for two months and next a Chevrolet for two months after which we make a decision.
The car maker whose vehicle is selected as the best gets the money.
Sells the car.

In this way we can really find out if what vice chairman of GM Bob Lutz is saying is really true:
"GM has to show that its cars are better than competitors’ models.
There is a “monumental chasm” between the public’s perception of GM’s vehicles and the autos in our current lineup, and the “May the Best Car Win” effort aims to change that".

But as long as this special offer is by GM only, it makes no sense to accept it.
How can we compare?

We must remember that GM is a company where desperation is the driving force.
This year their sales are down 35 %.
It is a bankrupt company that only still exists because the US government somehow thinks it is wise to pump money in it.
In May 2009 General Motors Corp. borrowed an additional $4 billion from the Treasury Department, meaning the automaker has accepted $19.4 billion in loans from the U.S. government.
GM started taking government money in December 2008 and said it intended to borrow $2.6 billion more by June 1, 2009 and an additional $9 billion after that.
GM is saying it now expects to need $7.6 billion in loans after June 1.
This is not even all the money that is unable to fill the GM holes.
In addition to the $19.4 billion that GM has directly borrowed from the government, its financial arm, GMAC Financial Services, has received $12.5 billion in aid, plus GM received a $1 billion loan to buy more equity in GMAC.

Will all that money do?
No, fervent and loyal blog readers.
The US government is also setting aside money to cover GM's expected warranty costs as part of a program to assure car buyers that their warranties will be honored regardless of what happens to the automaker.

No wonder GM is able to sell cars that can be returned no questions asked after two months.
GM operates like companies did in the Soviet Union when making profit and high quality products that could compete on the consumer markets was not relevant.

This is brilliantly demonstrated when visiting GM's Chevrolet website.
www.chevrolet.com
One sees 4 cars only and all of them are painted in a very sad grey.
Parked in what looks like a giant refrigerator.
No happiness or attraction is shining from these cars.
It looks more like frozen bodies in a mortuary.



Now, you may not go for looks.
But more for fuel consumption.
Who cares how your car looks when at the pump you can laugh at the guzzlers?

But with a new Chevrolet Malibu there is not much to laugh.
It has a 2.2 liter gasoline engine doing 22 MPG in town and 30 MPG on the highway.

Chevrolet Malibu

A car similar in size is the Peugeot 607 from France.
Equipped with a quiet and ecological friendly diesel engine doing 31.3 MPG in town and 51.4 MPG on the highway.

Peugeot 607

Maybe the thing to do is to go to other car dealer ships like Ford and Toyota and show them the offer GM is making.
This offer to drive the GM car with money back guarantee for two months.
To ask what they are offering as an incentive.
What they will do to stop you to proceed to test a Chevrolet Malibu.




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