GM’s Offer to Those Who Want to Sleep On It: Overnight Test Drive

The test drive is giving way to the sleepover.

In the latest effort to jump-start slowing auto sales, General Motors Corp. said Monday that it plans to let shoppers take cars and trucks home overnight . The program will give licensed adults the keys to a Cadillac Escalade, a Hummer sport utility vehicle or most of GM’s other brands and let drivers tool around for up to 100 miles.

Since the September 2001 terrorist attacks, GM has been the most aggressive automaker in offering low-interest loans or cash rebates to attract buyers, and other automakers have followed suit.

“We want people who don’t consider buying a General Motors car to get in the car and experience the quality,” going beyond the traditional drive around the block that dealers have long offered , said GM spokeswoman Marcia McGee. “For people who don’t consider GM cars, the incentives aren’t going to do it.”

The overnight test-drive program will run from April 15 to July 22 at participating dealers among GM’s 7,400 U.S. dealerships, she said. The company plans to pitch the offer with a national advertising campaign.

The brands that will be available: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Hummer, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Saab and Saturn

Those that won’t be going out on overnight loans are the Chevrolet Corvette and two new models -- the Chevrolet SSR stylized pickup and the Cadillac XLR convertible -- because “they’re in such short supply,” McGee said.

And teenagers won’t be driving any free, $50,000 Escalade SUVs to their high school proms this spring.

To qualify for the GM promotion, a licensed driver must be 21, have proof of insurance and leave his or her vehicle at the dealership.

GM will provide insurance for the test car, however.

If potential buyers don’t have cars of their own, it will be up to the dealer to decide how to make test-drive arrangements.

“A lot of this is going to be left up to the individual dealer,” including what to do if someone puts more than 100 miles during the overnighter, McGee said.

Chrysler, a unit of DaimlerChrylser, Ford Motor Co. and Honda Motor Co. said Monday that they have no plans to match GM’s overnight test-drive promotion.

Several industry officials and analysts said they couldn’t recall the last time an automaker made long-distance test drives available across its product line, although some have offered them in the past on selected models.

David Healy, a Burnham Securities Inc. analyst, said GM’s promotion “will help some” as the automaker tries to boost sales, though “dollars and cents are probably more important than test drives.”

He said GM suffers “a hangover from the days when they had wretched quality, which drove away a lot of their customers.”

GM isn’t letting up on the incentives, either.

Last week, the company unveiled interest-free financing for as long as 60 months on all of its vehicles except the Hummer. Cash incentives are available in lieu of discounted financing.

The company’s sales and the rest of the auto industry are being closely watched because robust auto sales had been one of the pillars holding up the sluggish economy.

In March, overall U.S. sales of cars and trucks fell 4.1% from a year earlier, with GM posting a 3% decline.

Ford and Chrysler also showed declines, while some Asian carmakers such as Honda and Toyota Motor Corp. posted monthly gains.

For the first quarter, GM’s total sales fell 10% from a year earlier to 1.02 million vehicles.

On Monday, GM’s stock climbed 50 cents to $35.40 on the New York Stock Exchange.