General Motors Corp. said Wednesday it once again will turn to discount financing to lure buyers into showrooms. But GM said it will limit the incentives to its subcompact J-body series of cars and only until the end of the year.
Shortly after announcing the incentive, GM reported new-car sales in the final 10 days of November rose 4.2 percent, to 104,046 units, from 99,808 sold in the year-earlier period. It represented the first 10-day sales increase since the automaker dropped incentives the first week of October.
For the month, however, GM sales were down 10.5 percent, to 293,884 units, from 328,378 sold last November.
”The subcompact segment is a very competitive one and by offering incentives on our subcompacts, all five divisions have a line to offer with incentives,” said Robert O`Connell, vice president-marketing staff and director of GM`s Worldwide Product Planning Group. ”These cars also offer good fuel mileage and will help our corporate average fuel economy,”
O`Connell said.
GM sales, along with those of the entire domestic industry, had fallen steadily since 7.5 to 7.7 percent discount financing programs on leftover 1985 models were ended the first week of October, when the 1986 models were introduced.
In September, with incentives offered, industry sales rose 48 percent from a year earlier. In October, without incentives, sales fell 13.2 percent. GM`s newest incentive will be limited to the Chevrolet Cavalier, the automaker`s best-selling car line in the 1985 model year; Buick Skyhawk; Olds Firenza; Pontiac Sunbird; and Cadillac Cimarron. It will offer 8.5 percent financing on the purchase of 1986 and leftover 1985 models delivered from dealer inventory starting Wednesday and running through Dec. 31.
GM joins Chrysler Corp. and American Motors Corp. in offering incentives on `86 models. Ford Motor Co. has yet to announce a program. It said it was studying GM`s program and is expected to offer an incentive of its own soon.
In mid-November the domestic automakers reported sales plunged 27.2 percent from the strong year-earlier level, the steepest drop since incentives were discontinued in early October. Last week, Chrysler began offering a choice of 8.6 percent financing or rebates ranging from $500 to $1,000 on selected `86 and leftover 1985 cars. American Motors earlier announced rebates of $400 to $700 on its slow-selling subcompact Renault Alliance and Encore models.
On Wednesday the domestic automakers began reporting sales for the final 10 days of November.
Ford Motor sold 43,857 new cars, down 6.5 percent from the 46,929 it sold in the year-earlier period. For the month of November, Ford sold 122,341 cars, a 23.3 percent decline from 159,485.
Chrysler sold 24,279 cars in the final 10 days of the month, a 10.5 percent decline from 27,147. For the month, Chrysler sold 68,459 cars, down 16.2 percent from 81,743 a year earlier.
For the first 11 months of the 1985 calendar year, Big Three sales are still ahead of year-earlier levels. GM has sold 4.29 million cars, less than 1 percent ahead of the 4.27 million sold a year earlier. Ford sales of 1.9 million units are 5.2 percent ahead of the 1.8 million sold a year earlier.
