GM Redesigns College Discount Website. Reality Doesn’t Have To Suck!
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Are you a college student or a university graduate looking for a sweet deal on a GM car? If you are, you may want to pay attention: General Motors has just given its College Discount website a thorough redesign and it’s nothing short of awesome.
The new site, which carries the tagline Reality Sucks… Luckily the GM College Discount Doesn’t, has a catchy design – a vast departure from the previous college discount website. The new site shows a college student looking at an overheated vehicle and offers up six GM vehicles, including the Chevy Cruze, Camaro, and HHR, Buick Regal and LaCrosse, and GMC Terrain and Sierra 1500. The site also asks users to take a survey about the redesign, provides information about GM’s warranty coverage, and recommends users become fans of the GM College Program on Facebook.
Among other things, users of the new site have the ability to:
- check out discount pricing examples
- see regional incentives and current promos
- shop and build a GM vehicle
- search current dealer inventory
- check the value of their current vehicle
- get an authorization number (to bring into the dealer)
- estimate payments
- request a brochure
- find savings on other products and services, including insurance
As part of the College Discount Program, savings include (as of 10/13/2010):
- $397 on the Cruze
- $4,405 on the HHR
- $588 on the Regal
- $595 on the LaCrosse
- $786 on the Terrain
- $6,950 on the Sierra 1500
The discounts, which are only available in the United States, also apply to other GM vehicles, but – for those who thought they could have their cake and eat it too – excludes the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 and Volt, as well as all Cadillac products.
Check out the GM College Discount program here and let us know what you think of the new site in the comments. Now, what other automaker has a prominent college discount program? Crickets? Yea, we thought so…
Hi Alex,
Thank you for supporting the GM College Discount Program! I do some web work for GM and wanted to let you and your readers know that there’s also a Facebook page where you can share your experiences and get money saving tips. Check it out when you have some time! http://bit.ly/caU470
Best,
Colleen
Hi Colleen, that’s very cool. Thanks for the tip and keep up the great work.
Alex Luft
Founder, GM Authority
So GM–the company that did so much to destroy American’s streetcar lines beginning in the 1930s, that needed a taxpayer bailout to survive just a few years ago, that sold notorious gas guzzlers for years–now has an ad campaign that’s all about smearing transit and bicycling (and extending cheap credit–we all know how much good that has done for our country!). Transit, bicycling, and walking are efficient, inexpensive, healthy, sustainable means of transportation. GM is apparently against these things. You need more than a new ad agency–you need a major attitude adjustment.
Howard — I agree with you regarding biking, walking, and public transportation. Having grown up in St. Petersburg (Russia), I’ve done the latter two myself on a daily basis.
However, the U.S. makes it difficult to do any one of those three things. Heck, outside the various downtowns across America, it’s nearly impossible to get around by foot or by bike thanks to 1) not enough sidewalks/bike paths and 2) non-walker/rider-friendly roads (and drivers, by their very nature).
Public transit is pretty much a non-starter outside the various highly-populated metropolitan areas.
So while I agree with the ideology of automotive alternatives, the American reality is different.
PS: GM Authority is not sponsored, owned, or otherwise endorsed by GM. We’re an independent publication for GM enthusiasts.
Also… “GM is apparently against these things.” Couldn’t you say that about pretty much all automakers?
The only thing that sucks is GM for running this anti-transit, anti-biking, anti-fitness campaign. People should vote with their wallets and tell GM it sucks.
What do you know about GM? It seems that you hold nothing but stale stereotypes. Cars as well. I use a car to drive to the nearest martial arts gym, which is 20 miles away. Let me know if you’re up for biking that distance, sparring and conditioning for 3 hours, and then biking back. I also use a car to drive to wherever I need to go, because where I live doesn’t exactly have a subway. And I am just one of millions of people in the U.S.A. that NEEDS a car to get what I need to get done in the few hours that there is in a day. I’m also not too lazy to drive, and drive well.
And consider that the computer you’re typing your senseless droll on didn’t exactly walk from the factory to the retailer. But by your logic, that makes computers completely anti-fitness, anti-biking and anti-transit.
Hopefully that sheds some light on why cars are still important.
This campaign is every bit as despicable as the cigarette ads from the 50s featuring “doctors” telling you how much smoother their brand is than the conpetitor.
You might as well just come out an say: “Hey, young workers of America thanks for the debt-financed bailout that you’ll be paying off for years. Why not enjoy the ride in a debt-fueled gas guzzler!”
Really? Are car makers the same as cigarette companies? Do they progressively ruin your health as you consume the product?
Have you even driven a recently-made GM product lately? Have you driven any car lately? Do you even have a driver’s license?
I think the answer to all those questions is a resounding “no”. More FUD from the uninformed.
Who are these fools posting on an article that is well over a year old, Alex you make great points these tools probably don’t know how to drive… Go post your garbage somewhere else.
Have you ever inhaled car fumes? Yes, a car will progressively ruin your health.
Yes, I have inhaled exhaust gasses, which go through several stages of filtration by a nifty device called the catalytic converter.
Is inhaling exhausts the same as smoking? One serves the basic need of transportation. The other is a purely recreational activity that’s not a “need”, rather a want. Not sure how you can compare the two. Heck, the computer on which you typed that last comment is also responsible for “fumes” — the ones that come from the electric station.
If a camaro is a “need”, than there are a lot of “reality” issues that “need” counseling.
Who said anything about a Camaro? We’re talking about any vehicle… GM makes many other vehicles besides the Camaro — like the Volt (91 eMPG), Cruze (up to 42 MPG), Sonic (40 MPG), Malibu, Regal, LaCrosse, and eAssist (read: mild hybrid) models of the latter three.
And for the record, a 2010 and newer Camaro runs cleaner and more efficiently than a 1991 Toyota Corolla.
Oh look! Somebody’s trying to tell me how to live my life! You seem INCREDIBLY educated! Tell me more!!
This ad makes me incredibly sad! Are we really advocating for people to stop riding bikes? We have a huge issue in this country with people not being physically active and we should not advocate against any form of activity that might help people become healthier. The real problem with this ad is that it portrays bike riding as being uncool and something people should avoid. While I know the intention of this ad was to sell cars, I feel that it is misguided and sends a bad message.
This is disgraceful. Unfortunately, there are many places in America where it is impossible to ride a bike from point A to point B and to conduct everyday activities. Also, public transportation is not available in every town and city in our country.
This being said, college campuses often provide an environment where bicycles are a viable mode of transportation, save students lots of money, encourage healthy living, and reduce traffic congestion. The same can be said about public transportation. Automobiles do the exact opposite of all of these things – especially on a college campus.
As Americans, we must take matters into our own hands and reverse the existing trend of unsafe roads for cyclists and a lack of public transportation by advocating for safe bicycle lanes and getting to know our neighbors on the bus. This “reality sucks” ad does the exact opposite of all of these things.
The true reality is that we’re running out of oil in a world that is addicted to it. Now that sucks. Bicycles are not the answer – but they are part of the solution. Cars are part of the problem, and that sucks for GM. So why don’t we get off our lazy butts, reverse the obesity epidemic, stop driving, and start pedaling our way to a more sensible future. Q.E.D.
Dude, you’re way off track.
GM, like Apple and many other brands, are promoting a discount for college students. You know, because not everybody gets what they want from mommy and daddy.
So, a little savings for a decent and reliable set of wheels is much appreciated in the eyes of many. Nobody is saying ANYTHING about driving cars around campus, but having graduated from college and living far enough off campus where I needed a car, I can say that I would have appreciated this discount. And I’m certainly not the only one.
And cyclists need to use the bike paths. I’m all for cycling… when it’s not blocking traffic on main roads.
But what if an INCREDIBLY educated person such as myself needs to go to the Ed Hardy store, and it is in the next town over?
If you happen to wear Ed Hardy, all of your arguments are invalid.