GM Rolls Out Employee Discount Promotion
General Motors has announced that all 2008 and some 2009 vehicles will be available to every day consumers for the employee discount. The Employee Discount promotion started in 2005 and boosted GM’s sales in a big way. Other auto makers have offered similar promotions as well from time to time. GM, who markets the promotion strongly with well pointed ads, has been busy with commercials during the Olympic Games on NBC.
Steep auto discounts was one of four factors that I felt would boost auto sales. While other turn around factors have still not been met, the Employee Discount Program offered by GM may be enough to stabilize sales for the auto maker, which in turn will help satellite radio subscription numbers. For consumers, there is also additional cash incentives on top of the already discounted price.
General Motors has been the largest installer of satellite radio since the beginning. While the deal is expensive, it does help boost the subscriber numbers and could be a factor in getting Sirius XM to cross the 20,000,000 subscriber hurdle by the end of the year.
At this point it will be interesting to see what other auto makers do in response, and whether that will fuel stronger automobile sales in Q3.
Position – Long SIRI, No Position GM
tyler, boy are you good….
just the other day you posted an article:
Poor Auto Sales Today Mean A Brighter Tomorrow
August 18, 2008 (11:31 pm) Tyler Savery
did you give them the idea, or do you just have good inside information, or was this just sheer good luck on your part?
LOL….
I have simply followed the sector for a long time, and keep track of OEM’s as well
Tyler,
If the OEM deal with GM was due to be renewed immediately, what leverage does the new Sirius/XM have to get a more favorable deal. It’s not like Sirius is in such a position of power that they could say we don’t want to pay you as much, but we do want you to get to 100% instalation within 2 -3 years and by the way please start installing interoperable radios in 2010 in all your cars.
I feel like satellite radio is pushing instead of getting the true consumer pull right now and wondering what you think about getting less expensive OEM deals down the line.
What a great time to buy a new car and home if you have the credit or cash.
A gas hog at $22,500 with a 10% discount is every bit as much of a gas hog as the same car selling at its MSRP of $25,000. The public is now awake to the fact that there is an energy crisis. GM is simply not manufacturing the cars that the public is asking for and discounting alone it is not the long term answer. The Japs know our economy better than we do. They even go so far as to show us exactly what sells and still the US car manufacturers don’t see the light. I will say that discounting will bring in some immediate cash from a small segment of the population that will drive a large inefficient car at any price, but at some point GM will hit the wall.