Lutz Details GM-eBay Online Program

Last week, we talked about GM's latest idea when it comes to boosting sales: a deal with eBay that would allow the newly-revived automaker to begin selling cars online for consumers living in California. After CEO Fritz Henderson described such a partnership as a great way to increase sales, marketing chief Bob Lutz steps in front of the media and provides a bit more details about the online program.

First of all, just as his superior stated, the deal will only go through if the experiments, expected to start in the near future, succeed and show positive results.

In short terms, the online interface would be mostly useful for consumers who want to choose a car by browsing the Internet and not by visiting a dealership. The winning bidder will then have to go to the dealership he picks to receive the purchased vehicle, Lutz explained.

“Let's face it, all of these online experiments will purely be for the customer to make their pre-selection of the car and ultimately that vehicle will still be delivered by a dealer,” he said according to autocar.co.uk.

But how about used cars? “There’s always one issue that can never be dealt with on an Internet sale, and that’s the question of the used car that the customer wants to trade in,” he said.

“Every 10 or 15 years or so - and I’ve been in this business since 1963 - in sales and marketing some genius invents a system that’s going to eliminate car dealers. Everybody always gets excited and sometimes Wall Street puts a lot of money into it and it always fails because the franchised independent retailer is always the way to go. It always works best.”