GM Expands Online
General Motors Corp., which last year became the first major auto maker to experiment with selling cars via the Internet, said it plans to roll out the program nationwide early next year.
The automotive giant said it has begun recruiting dealers across the nation to participate in the expansion of the program, which allows consumers to shop for cars, request price quotes, arrange financing and schedule test drives through the https://www.gmbuypower.com Web site.
A scaled-down version of the program was launched last October, serving consumers in California, Oregon, Washington and Idaho. The service was designed by GM’s regional marketing division in Thousand Oaks as part of a broader effort to shore up GM’s market share on the West Coast after years of decline.
Ann Noel Blakney, director of GM’s Consumer Marketing Initiative, said the program has been a moderate hit with technology-oriented shoppers. About 800 sales were generated at the site during the last year, and surveys of GM buyers in recent months showed that 35% of those with Internet access had visited the GM BuyPower site, far more than had visited any other online car sales site.
Blakney also said that half of those who bought GM cars after visiting the BuyPower site traded in cars made by other manufacturers. “We were really encouraged by that,” she said.
Still, GM faces an uphill battle in the online auto sales market, which is dominated by independent players such as Irvine-based Auto-by-tel.com and Microsoft Corp.’s Carpoint service. Analysts say GM is at a disadvantage in some ways because its online competitors aren’t beholden to one auto maker but can link shoppers with dealers selling other makes such as Ford or Honda.
GM has been the most aggressive auto maker in cyberspace, although other manufacturers have also set up elaborate sites with links to regional dealerships. Blakney said 60% of the dealers in the four Western trial states have enrolled in the BuyPower program and that the company plans to waive enrollment fees and offer other incentives to entice dealers in other regions of the country.
