General Motors Corp. hopes to limit its offering of costly incentives this year, but high-profile promotions will still be used to lure buyers.

Gary Cowger, GM’s North American president told The Detroit News that incentives should begin to slow down with the launch of new vehicles in the past year. But some segments, such as midsize sport utility vehicles and full-size pickups, will still require large incentives to attract buyers.

"You're still going to see lots of 'heavy incentive action,' but it's going to move around segment by segment, where it's old versus new," Cowger said.

Last year consumer incentives, usually in the form of cash rebates and financing deals, averaged $2,603 a vehicle for the industry. GM led the way with an average of $3,899, according to Edmunds.com, which provides online vehicle buying information.

GM began 2004 with a "Hot Button" promotion in which it gave away 1,000 vehicles in 56 days to generate showroom traffic and build awareness of its nine U.S. brands. Cowger said the $50 million program created traffic but failed to deliver adequate sales.

But GM had better success with its 72-hour clearance sale on 2004 models in September. Some dealers have said the sales blitz was successful because it was simple and easy to promote and convey to customers.

"Simple and compelling is always better, if it's simple and compelling and not easy to get out there and copy within five minutes," he told the paper.

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