GM Bribes Dealers With Extra 1% Spiff for '09s
Technically speaking, a spiff is an immediate payment to a sales person for a cha-ching. But you get the picture: GM is adding a one percent bonus for any of its dealers that [somehow] manages to shift certain ’09 models (i.e. not the new, still mythical Camaro). “The so-called marketing stimulus payments will be made six months after a vehicle is sold,” Bloomberg reports, upping the New York Times and Wall Street Journal’s recent run of “unnamed sources” by one. “It will be computed from the base-model invoice price, said the people, who didn’t want to be identified because the plan hasn’t been made public.” The come-on is extremely important for GM’s cash flow, or lack thereof; the automaker books a vehicle as “sold” when it ships it to the dealer. So what are we talking here? “Dealers would receive hundreds of dollars per vehicle under the GM program. For instance, the payment would be $166 on a GMC Sierra pickup truck and $549 on a Hummer H2 SUT sport-utility vehicle, according to base-model invoice prices of $16,623 and $54,940, respectively, listed for the 2009 models on Edmunds.com, a provider of automotive information.” But not THE provider. And it’s all caps for HUMMER bub– and no sales. Hey waydaminute! Do they even make those things anymore? And if so, why?
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"six months after it is sold". Six months after it is invoiced to the dealer. Effective with any unit invoiced on or after 10/01/08. Whats wrong with that. Its to make the dealer order it from GM instead of trying to dealer trade for it. It will help dealers effectively manage thier own inventories. It's as I told my ASM, before this program, "I'll just trade for it." If I want to get rid of a unit bad enough I can pass it along to the next dealer. I guess a dealer making a dime is wrong. They have shaved the discount so much in the last few years to make their MSRP's reasonable. I love when someone says " I know you got 20%"....I read it on the internet.
Good to know. But they might as well start applying it to all models. Including the mythical Camaro, which, despite being a halo vehicle for internet enthusiasts, will soon also pile up in dealer lots. And when it is moving, it will be lower end models, as it will quickly shift from the first 30 days of being an enthusiasts buy with extra dealer markup to being discounted and a chick buy.
That's not to say the 2010 model year will not be included. Since none are produce or "invoiced" yet. "Good to know" as in how?
I thought it said GM brides dealers with a Spliff, then I read it and it's wasn't that interesting.