General Motors created the idea of offering employee pricing on virtually all its models at the start of June, and the simplicity of the notion struck a chord with the Yanks, resulting in a sales jump of almost 50 percent over the same month in 2004.
When GM decided to renew the deal for July, Ford decided it had no choice but to create its own program and that was followed quickly by the Chrysler Group. But the German-owned firm was the first one to extend the offer to Canada, launching Employee Pricing Plus on its
2005 model year cars (2006 models are excluded), and that discount will not stop dealer discounts of $5,500 on most models.The Chrysler Group is the first manufacturer in Canada to bring employee pricing to market, bragged Mike Accavitti, the firm's vice-president of marketing. "Our sales are up through the first half of the year," he said, "and we aim to keep that momentum going with more new product launches and best in-class offers."
Most everything the company now sells will be covered by this plan, except the Dodge Sprinter and the Chrysler 300C SRT8, and of course the 2006 model year cars. That means the discounts only work on the current versions of the Chrysler PT Cruiser and Dodge Ram pickups, not the improved ones going on sale this fall, and the brand new Jeep Commander.
But the employee discount will apply to such models as the Chrysler
300 sedan, the Dodge Caravan minivan, and the Dodge Dakota mid-size pickup.More details on Chrysler's Employee Pricing Plus program will be spelled out in a national advertising campaign that begins this week.
It's still possible that Ford and GM will make similar moves in Canada. GM of Canada president Michael Grimaldi said in a mid-June interview that he has been considering the employee pricing promotion since Detroit launched it. But the Oshawa firm has been running a promotion with discounted gasoline in conjunction with Petro-Canada that has proved to be extremely popular with consumers, as big sales increases in June showed.