DETROIT, June 21 (UPI) -- The month-long U.S. marketing blitz by General Motors Corp. that offered the employee discount to all customers has boosted sales.
Power Information Network, a division of automotive research firm J.D. Power and Associates, said GM's share of retail sales in the first 12 days of June was 30.3 percent, up almost 8 points from May and 9 points from April.
But much of the trade press says the employee discount offer was hardly a cure for the ailing company's basic weaknesses.
"It did the trick in the short term," said Jesse Toprak, senior analyst for consumer automotive Web site Edmunds.com. "GM will win the battle this month, but will they win the war?
"If they take it away, sales will go down. People are buying the employee discount, not the product."
