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Aug 13, 2009 - Time left:8h 43m 7s

Would you buy a new car on ebay? You may get your chance.

From MercuryNews.com

The new-car sales experiment between General Motors and San Jose e-commerce powerhouse eBay begins today in California, and both companies will be closely watching the results — particularly GM, which is hoping to increase its market share in the state.

"Dealers who are participating see this as a great mechanism to get their products and information out to people where they're doing initial shopping and looking, which is on the Internet," said Dave Barthmuss, western regional spokesman for GM.

The program, announced last month by GM, will involve 225, or 90 percent, of California dealers. Barthmuss said California was selected as the test market for the four-week trial because GM sales in the state have historically been "far below the national average," and its residents are considered tech-savvy.

"It's all about simplifying the car-buying process," Barthmuss said. "It's basically extending the dealers' reach beyond the showrooms and car lots of their brick-and-mortar buildings to the buyers' laptops and shopping in their living rooms."

The new Web site, gm.ebay.com will be available through Sept. 8, and if it's successful, Barthmuss said, GM would like to roll it out nationwide.

 Not sure that I'd actually purchase a new car without actually going to see it.

3:22 am | Categories: automotive news Permalink | Alert Administrator

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