The General Motors Corp. marketing chief who kicked off the zero percent financing frenzy last year and his soon-to-be successor say the

company's marketing strategy won't change with the New Year's changing of the guard, according to a report in the Detroit News.

GM plans to continue to press the competition through aggressive incentives, according to William Lovejoy, who will retire at the end of the year as GM's top marketing man. "If we retrench, even if it was better for us, for our bottom line, and we hurt our suppliers and our retailers, then where are we going to be? We're going to be trying to do our business with a weakened group of partners that we have and that's not good," Lovejoy said.

According to the News, Lovejoy said he keeps handy a pile of newspaper ads showing low interest and cash-back deals being offered by foreign automakers to illustrate the heightened competitiveness in the marketplace.