DETROIT — General Motors, battling an 18 percent decline in U.S. sales this year, plans to offer employee discounts to all customers for four more weeks, people familiar with the plans said.
Incentives on most 2008 and some 2009 models were to have expired Tuesday, but officials liked how the initial two- week offer boosted sales, said the people, who didn’t want to be identified because GM hasn’t made its strategy public.
The program allows all U.S. customers to pay the same prices as GM employees. Under the current offer, a Buick Enclave sport utility vehicle costs $30,949, compared with a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $33,955, according to GM’s website.
GM is extending the discounts after sales of its trucks dropped 23 percent through July in the U.S. in the face of $4- a-gallon gasoline and plummeting consumer confidence. The Detroit-based automaker’s U.S. sales decline has been wider than the industry’s as a whole and contributed to $18.7 billion in first-half losses.
GM spokesman John McDonald declined to comment.
GM dealers have reported “some resurgence” in demand for larger SUVs and pickups in the past month.
