During CEO Fritz Henderson's press conference this morning he announced that GM would experiment with selling new cars on Ebay. Oddly, he said it would start first in California and expand to other states if it proved successful.
Guess that means California dealers will be the ones actually selling the cars, but obviously anybody could buy them. This is one of those ideas that probably would have never got off the ground a year or two ago, but not that GM has dropped the hammer on thousands of dealers, the remaining lots are probably willing to do just about anything to stay int he good graces of management.
Then again, dealers have been using Ebay on their own for years, so we're not sure how this is going to break the mold in any significant way. Guess we'll see later this year.
AutoObserver: New GM Experiments With Car-Selling on Ebay
dwhamman says:
08:19 AM, 07/10/09
I really hope that this is not indicative of the "new" ideas we should expect to see from the "New GM". If it is I really don't see how we'll ever get our money back.
roar02ram says:
10:42 AM, 07/10/09
I think this could be fantastic if they're able to tailor the website correctly & put in place the proper ecommerce standards (easy shipping & sales completion). It'd be a modified kind of custom ordering: one could search for exactly the car one wanted (color, options, etc). The icing on the cake would be the ability to pay only as much as one is willing to pay.
If taken nationwide, it has the potential to up-end the business model for dealerships, but if executed correctly, it'd be a great way for dealers & automakers to move metal & a great way for consumers to get what they want without the typical car-buying ills.
n_tesla says:
05:53 PM, 07/10/09
I heard an interview with Bob Lutz today. As he explains it this is lame.
1. Cars are sold through and from dealer inventory.
2. They put their "Reserve" on it and wait for bidders to out bid each other up to sticker price. That is unless it's a Camaro then who knows?
3. You still get to meet the dealer who will no doubt try to sell you financing and low ball you on your trade in.
4. GM can't be end user friendly because their customer is the dealer.
Fail
estreka says:
08:30 AM, 07/11/09
I see dealers selling new cars on eBay all the time. How is this new?
greenpony says:
07:03 AM, 07/12/09
"I see dealers selling new cars on eBay all the time. How is this new?" Agreed.
Until automakers sell directly to consumers instead of through the archaeic "dealer" system, there is nothing special about this. If GM really wants to break the mold, this is what they will do.
ocramida says:
01:06 PM, 07/13/09
Yeah unless there ia some clause that prevents dealers from playing games when you pick-up the car then this is a horrible idea. There appears to be much potential for dealers to tack on extra cost/gimmicks.
using eBay to bypass the dealer seems like the better idea, although how would service be handled. I can see some dealers giving people a hard time at service if they bought their car over eBay.
Or I maybe paranoid. :-)