GM Is Said to Offer U.S. Dealers 1% Incentive on 2009 Models

General Motors Corp., trying a new tactic to stem its sales decline, is offering U.S. dealers a cash incentive of 1 percent on each 2009 vehicle they sell, according to 3 people with knowledge of the strategy.

The so-called marketing stimulus payments will be made six months after a vehicle is sold and will be computed from the base-model invoice price, said the people, who didn't want to be identified because the plan hasn't been made public. The program will run to the end of this year, they said.

GM's offer follows the industry's 27 percent sales slide in September, the worst month since 1991. The automaker's decline was narrower at 16 percent, as it gave all customers the discount prices paid by its employees. GM's 18 percent drop this year through last month is more than the industry's 13 percent. Bloomberg