Chicago – General Motors Corp., which cut sticker prices nearly across the board in January, could be gearing up for higher incentives next month in a “March Madness” sale.
The Detroit News reported Monday that GM will run the sale from March 15 through April 4, timing the promotion to the NCAA basketball tournament.
GM declined to comment on the report, but spokeswoman Deborah Silverman hinted that the automaker doesn’t need big discounts because sales are up with lower incentives.
“Sales for February look good,” Silverman said. “We expect total sales and retail sales to be up” when GM and other automakers report monthly figures Wednesday.
Sales rose 6 percent in January after GM announced price cuts averaging $1,300 per vehicle, though the gain came from higher sales to commercial and government fleets, not to retail customers.
GM’s inventory topped 1 million vehicles at the start of February, nearly 200,000 fewer than a year earlier. Silverman said that included about 130,000 2005 models, a smaller supply of year-old models than in recent years.
There have been other improvements at GM. A year ago, it had the industry’s highest incentives, averaging $3,590 per vehicle, according to the Power Information Network, the data-gathering unit of J.D. Power and Associates.
But last month, Power says, GM spent $2,779 per vehicle, less than Ford’s $3,056 or Chrysler’s industry-leading $3,615. Power has not issued incentive levels for February.
