GM Extends Employee Discount Program By OLIVIA MUNOZ, Associated Press Writer




DETROIT - General Motors Corp. on Tuesday announced it was extending its discount program that allows customers to buy cars and trucks at the employee rate and helped the automaker's sales soar last month.


GM has given the same discount it provides to employees to anyone buying most new GM cars or trucks since June 1. The promotion, which was set to expire Tuesday, will remain in effect until Aug. 1.

The current promotion includes all 2005 GM vehicles except the Chevrolet Corvette, Pontiac GTO and GMC medium duty trucks.

DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group has said it will match GM's incentive starting Wednesday with an employee discount program of its own. On Friday, when monthly sales figures were released, Ford Motor Co. declined to match GM.

A message seeking comment was left Tuesday with a Ford spokesman.

In June, GM saw its sales soar 41 percent to their highest monthly total in nearly 19 years thanks to the heavily promoted discount.

GM sold 550,829 vehicles last month, up from 374,970 in June 2004. That's an increase of 41.3 percent after accounting for differences in the number of selling days, a sharp contrast from the single-digit growth the company has posted so far this year.

Almost all of the growth came from light truck sales, which jumped 69.2 percent to 375,092 vehicles. The Colorado, Equinox, Tahoe and Trailblazer models posted some of the largest sales increases.

In late-morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange, shares of GM rose 12 cents to $34.77.