GM exec regrets discount plan

NEW YORK, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- A leading General Motors executive says he regrets starting the employee-discount program that drove GM sales to record levels last summer.

Mark LaNeve, GM's top North American sales and marketing executive, told the Wall Street Journal this year GM will roll back prices and try to emphasize the advantages of its new models.

LaNeve said the employee-discount promotion, which GM began last June, was very efficient -- but after the program ended three months later, sales dipped and hit a low in October, when sales fell by 26 percent.

The payback from the summer sales bonanza was compounded by high gasoline prices because of Hurricane Katrina, which drove down sales of sport utility vehicles.

The employee-discount program also caused the auto maker to focus its ad campaign on the sales promotion, instead of highlighting product attributes and its effort to reduce base prices on certain models, he said.