the automaker sent letters to dealers earlier this month detailing a plan to pay them $7,000 for each Saturn and Pontiac brand car they can move off their lots. Under the plan, dealers technically become the first owner of the cars in order to get the incentive. They can then pass on the incentives by selling the "used" vehicles to customers at a deep discount. The deal expires Jan. 4.
The factory-to-dealer incentive plan is an unusual move. If GM had taken the common approach of placing the $7,000 as a customer incentive, the company would have had to wait for buyers to come into the showroom and take the deal.
Instead, GM's plan allows the company to clear the inventory off its books right away and leaves it to the dealers to pass on the incentive.
