General Motors offers new customers $100 to test-drive Cadillac

GM offers $100 prepaid gift card in hopes of getting new customers

DEARBORN, Mich. – After weeks of disastrous PR for General Motors, the automaker is offering $100 to those who simply test-drive a Cadillac in hopes of getting new customers.

Just stepping into the showroom is enough to give you new car fever and that's all GM is trying to do, offering drivers who are 21 and older with a car that's a 2004 and newer and non-GM vehicle $100 to come in for a test drive.

That $100 comes in the form a prepaid Visa gift card.

"It's been pretty popular," said Paul Schultz, of Les Stanford Cadillac in Dearborn.

The gift card promotion is a new move. Cadillac's March sales were down 6.3 percent. How much of that is attributable to GM's woes is unclear.

"Our Cadillacs have always been top of the line. We've always been up in J.D. Power surveys," said Schultz. "We're really proud of the product, what they've seen so far."

In addition to the $100, if you're coming out of a non-GM vehicle and buy a Caddy, you're looking at an additional $1,500 in your pocket plus a host of other incentives, depending on the model.

Dealers like Les Stanford are convinced if they can get you in the door, you'll buy.

"We are getting a lot of people who were committed to BMW and Mercedes," said Schultz.


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