General Motors said on Monday that it will begin a test pilot next month with seven Oldsmobile dealerships in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area that expands sales of vehicles over the Internet.
Consumers will be able to scan the inventories of the dealers, pick their choice of Oldsmobile, set a maximum price, arrange financing and select a preferred dealership.
The so-called "e-price" is based on the typical price consumers in the Minneapolis-St. Paul region pay for vehicles, but customers are able to bargain for a lower price when they finalise the sale at the dealership, GM said.
The program is scheduled to start the first week of October.
Currently, GM`s GMBuyPower.com Web site (http://www.gmbuypower.com) offers the higher manufacturers` suggested retail price, and consumers can only scan the inventory of a selected dealership, rather than across a whole region, like in the test pilot.
"We intend to roll it out nationally by the end of next year, providing the market response is good, both in terms of customer response and dealer response," Scott McDonald, director of GM`s global e-sales, said of the test pilot.
Later this year or early next year, GM intends to expand the pilot to more brands and cities, he said.
The new program should help GM compete with third-party Internet sites that also sell vehicles online.
"One of the big advantages in this business model is it gets the consumer a wide view of the market inventory, as well as getting them with their preferred dealer," McDonald said.
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