“At this time, no plans have been finalized with General Motors,” Rob Chesney, vice president of eBay Motors and Marketplaces, said in a statement quoted by nytimes.com. “We are excited about a potential new adventure that supports G.M.’s dealers by expanding on how they already reach consumers through new approaches.”
On GM's side, the company's CEO, Fritz Henderson, already said that Gm and E-Bay have found common ground for a test run in California. According to the CEO, the manufacturer is already in the process of seeing how well will its vehicles sell over the Internet.
"We'll be testing this and other ideas with our dealers over the next few weeks and hope to expand and build upon them in the coming months," Henderson said. The plan is to provide customers with two choices: either bid for a new vehicle, or purchase it online at a predetermined price.
Still, lots of questions are yet to be answered. First, why would a GM customer bid for a new vehicle online, when he has at his disposal other, less expensive means for buying a vehicle. Second, no one knows yet whether the predetermined price of a GM vehicle on eBay will be different that the MSRP.
According to Tom Pyden, vice president for communications at GM, the two companies are still negotiating, so a result is expected in the following days.
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