GM in Crisis, Slashes Prices on 80% of Models

Things are going from bad to worse for automaking giant General Motors. They're announcing price cuts on most of their models:

General Motors Corp., whose U.S. sales fell 4.3 percent last year, said it will cut the prices on about 80 percent of its cars and trucks.

Prices will reduced on all Buick, Chevrolet and GMC models and most Pontiac vehicles, said Mark LaNeve, GM's head of North American marketing, in a statement today. The price cuts take effect tomorrow. Combined with reductions made on some models in August, the changes cover 90 percent of GM's volume, LaNeve said.

GM Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner said two days ago that GM may improve U.S. sales this year on the strength of new vehicles such as its redesigned large sport-utility vehicles. GM, the world's largest automaker, lost $4.8 billion in North America last year. Its 26.2 percent U.S. market share in 2005 was the lowest in 80 years as Toyota Motor Corp. and other Asian automakers gained a record 36.5 percent share.

``It's a good idea, but it may not be big enough and it will probably take three to four months to gain traction because it's a slow time right now for sales,'' said Art Spinella, president of CNW Marketing, an auto consulting and research firm in Bandon, Oregon.

Of course, they won't be cutting prices on Corvettes, and that's the only GM car I'd consider buying (hey, I'm almost 50 - I'm supposed to want a Corvette).