Washington To Detroit - Drop Dead

[certifiedcustom]

http://www.autoextremist.com/current/

[Draenor]

Nice read..or rant.....

 

 

 

 

I bet Studebaker would of liked a nice bailout.

[thewaterboy]

Good read! Thanks for posting it !!

[unit731]

GM's 0 percent financing helped calm a nervous nation after 9/11

 

Ralph Kisiel

Automotive News

September 14, 2008 - 12:01 am ET

 

 

After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the American economy spiraled down and auto sales slowed to a crawl.

 

The country needed leaders, and General Motors stepped up.

 

"I was right in the middle of it," says John Middlebrook, then vice president for vehicle brand marketing and corporate advertising. "It looked like we were going into a paralysis, both as a country and as a company."

 

GM quickly devised a bold plan that jump-started auto sales and the economy.

 

In a matter of days, GM created "Keep America Rolling," an incentive program that offered 0 percent loans for nearly all models. It tried to engender confidence in the economy, and it stimulated auto sales. Americans seemed to breathe a collective sigh of relief.

 

"It was a stroke of genius," says John Smith, now GM's group vice president of global product planning. "It was a very inspired moment and one I was frankly rather proud of."

 

Middlebrook, 67, who retired July 1 as GM's vice president of global sales, service and marketing, agrees.

 

"There was just no hesitation right up and down the company," Middlebrook says. "It is a very expensive thing to do, and that was not in our plans. But it was the right thing to do."

 

GM estimated that the program, which ran through December, added about 1 million total U.S. sales by year end. The automaker grabbed price leadership of the domestic auto industry. Ford and Chrysler followed suit and others crafted their own incentive programs.

 

But while confidence was restored and sales jumped, the incentives created problems in later years. U.S. consumers grew accustomed to hefty incentives on new cars and trucks. GM, and those who followed with 0 percent financing, turned America into a nation into incentive-addicted, deal-obsessed shoppers.

 

What 0 percent did

Results of "Keep America Rolling"

• Added 1 million total U.S. sales by year end, GM says

• Jump-started the economy

• Forced other automakers to follow suit

• Made consumers accustomed to hefty incentives

• Helped to reassure a nervous nation