In an interview with
General Motors the Chicago Tribune reports that the automaker has temporarily suspended its Auto Show In Motion program. The popular event where consumers can
test-drive GM vehicles without pressure from sales folks has been halted this year due to The Drive, which opened in
Las Vegas, Nevada last month. According to a GM representative, the automaker will evaluate The Drive at year’s end and
decide to either continue the “autotainment” with presumably a renewed Auto Show In Motion, or with other
promotions.
Jim Mateja of the Tribune, though, sees cost playing a big role in the Auto Show’s stoppage.
Though GM does not provide official figures on how much either program costs, he calculates The Drive is easily topping
two million. The amount must be significant enough, he writes, since an attendee, usually a “GM avoider”, is
three times as likely to buy a GM vehicle after participating in Auto Show.
And GM is not the only automaker
cutting on such test drives: Ford has halted similar programs while DaimlerChrysler, whose Chrysler division made money
last year, has drastically cut its test drives.
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[Source: Chicago Tribune]