General Motors and Chrysler Resort to Old Means

Two new stories are emerging to show that American automakers are at least trying to stir the showroom pot. Both are oldies but goodies in terms of driving traffic to dealers and encouraging buyers to sign on the dotted line.

I reported recently that Chrysler was ready to return to the lease business. Now that concept is closer to reality. During the dark days prior to filing bankruptcy, Chrysler Financial was unable to maintain their full line of credit and had to dissolve its lease program. Now with fresh capital provided by GMAC Financial Services, Chrysler is ready to offer leases once again on a select number of their offerings that most probably will include the Dodge Journey, Nitro, Ram pickup, Grand Caravan, Jeep Liberty and Chrysler Town and Country.

The program is not currently in effect, but should be in the next few weeks. It will be welcome by dealers who saw off lease cars return and customers defect to automakers who remained in the lease business.

The other new bit of news comes from General Motors. While automotive marketers are looking for the next generation of Web 2.0, viral, or gorilla marketing tactics to push new metal, old Bob Lutz is dusting off the old Chrysler play book to bring an ancient winner to GM.

Lutz who now heads up the marketing efforts at GM will soon offer a 60 day money back guarantee on their fleet of vehicles. As mentioned, this is not a new concept. In the 1980’s automotive innovator Lee Iacocca launched a successful campaign called, “If you find a better car, buy it.”

GM’s launch of the program will be called “May the Best Car Win.”

The guarantee will cover Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac products for both the 2009 and 2010 model years. The program will allow customers the opportunity to return their car after 31 days and with less than 4,000 miles.

I’m sure the fine print will be extra fine on this guarantee which launches on September 14th.