General Motors says October sales on pace to surpass last month's

DETROIT -- October 22, 2002 Bloomberg News is reporting that General Motors Corp. said October sales are on pace to surpass last month's because an expanded no-interest loan program is luring more customers to the world's largest automaker.

More buyers visited the automaker's dealerships after General Motors expanded its incentive program on Oct. 10 to include no money down and no payments for 90 days, said Bill Lovejoy, group vice president for North American sales, service and marketing.

"Traffic is up over September," Lovejoy told reporters in a conference call. He said it's too early to predict final sales for this month, and would only add that the automaker's current pace would lead to sales of more cars and trucks than last month.

The automaker's U.S. sales in September fell 13 percent to 312,276 from the year-earlier month after it scaled back its no-interest loan program. Industry sales rose 2.9 percent last month as smaller rivals Ford Motor Co. and DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler unit picked up customers.

The industry's annual sales pace for October may be less than September's rate of 16.3 million vehicles because consumers are less likely to buy a car because of the possibility of a U.S. war with Iraq, Lovejoy said.

General Motors shares rose $2.41, or 7 percent, to $36.72 at 3:29 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.

He said sales at General Motors will fall short of last October, when the introduction of no-interest loans in the wake of Sept. 11 resulted sales of 554,652 cars and trucks, the company's best sales month since 1986.