Seeking to cash in on Toyota’s recent sticking accelerator issues, General Motors is offering a range of incentives to Toyota and Lexus owners.
Hoping that one of the world’s strongest examples of brand loyalty has been at least partially impacted by this latest case of unreliability, three options are available to owners of the Japanese brands until the end of February:
- Those with a Toyota lease get up to US$1000 to help terminate the Toyota lease and lease of buy a GM vehicle
- Customers financing a vehicle purchase get zero percent interest for up to five years
- Cash buyers get US$1000 off their purchase.
The incentive is available to all Toyota and Lexus owners (not just those affected by the recall) and applies to most new Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC vehicles.
Meanwhile, GM has confirmed that it will follow Toyota’s lead and suspend sales of the Pontiac Vibe – the sister car to the Toyota Matrix, also subjected to last week’s voluntary accelerator recall.
GM spokesman, Alan Adler, said there was around 1400 Vibes left in Canada and just two unsold in the US, adding that GM will not sell those two cars.
Mr Adler said he expected Toyota to finance all of the recall work and was waiting to receive instructions on the repair.
“Ultimately GM dealers would fix Pontiac vehicles, but it’s up to Toyota to provide the remedy,” he said.
So far both Ford and Chrysler have resisted the temptation to introduce a similar incentive scheme to attract Toyota customers, but neither has completely shut the door on the idea.
(with Automotive News)
