In an attempt to boost the droping sales, General Motors Corp. plans to offer employee discounts on almost every brand of the automaker and cash-back on slow-selling light trucks such as the Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck.

The discount offer takes effect on August 20 and it will run through September 2.

GM spokesman John McDonald confirmed on Monday, “We are going to have an employee-discount-for-everyone program.” Further he added, “We are going to issue a press release tomorrow morning with the details.”

The employee discounts would apply to all 2008 model year Chevrolets and some of the 2009 model vehicles such as the Pontiac Vibe, Cobalt sedan and HHR compact wagon.

In the Buick-Pontiac-GMC channel, the customers will get up to $6,000 cash plus of employee discount on all the 2008 models along with the 2009 Pontiac Vibe.

Customers will get discount of several thousand dollars, however the rate of discount will vary depending on the vehicle line. While a 2008 Buick Enclave crossover  tags for $44,010, it will sell for an employee price of $39,561 and a Buick Lucerne sedan will sell for $31,813, whereas its actual price is $35,220.

The top-selling U.S. automaker has been threatened by the sharp U.S. sales downturn and has faced pressure to cut costs. The latest incentive offer comes as GM shifts away from other high-profile marketing as part of an attempt to cut $10 billion in costs through 2009.

GM’s sales through July were down almost 18 percent.

GM’s shares closed down 7.3 percent on Monday, hitting their low for the day just after the incentive announcement.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 20th, 2008 at 5:06 am and is filed under General Motors. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.