Aug 4, 2005 2 min read

For more than 20 years we’ve heard Detroit’s Big Three – General Motors, Ford and Chrysler (now DaimlerChrysler) lament the continued erosion of their market share in the United States. First cheaper Japanese imports were fingered as the primary culprit; now it’s vehicles made in Korea. But a wildly successful pricing strategy kicked off by GM in June, and copied by the other two in July, shows that it is indeed possible to effectively compete against the imports. This concept is so simple that it’s a wonder nobody thought of it sooner: Give regular customers the same price as employees of your company.

GM’s sales soared a record-breaking 41 percent in June from a year prior, and ran 19 percent ahead for July. Ford in July set its own record by racking up a 35.5 percent sales gain, while DaimlerChrysler sales jumped 32 percent over July 2004.

These are not numbers to proverbially sneeze at. They prove that customers will respond to what they perceive as a good deal, and they may signal a trend toward a more realistic pricing strategy in the automobile industry. Most customers would probably welcome any simplification in that area.

As GM previously proved in 2001 by offering zero percent interest for 60 months to qualified buyers, in an era when everybody’s basically offering a good product and brand allegiance isn’t the driving force it once was, offering the best deal is one way to retain or grow market share.

And when other manufacturers follow suit, the ultimate winner is the consumer.