NEW YORK, July 23 (Reuters) - General Motors Corp . and Ford Motor Co. , are signaling they intend to raise prices on many of their 2003 models, after having driven incentives this year with zero percent financing, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.
Though the top two automakers are offering few details of their 2003 pricing plans, the Journal said some comments from the company, dealers and outside analysts indicated GM and Ford were trying to offset the heavy costs of discounting with price increases that for some models may run as high as 4 percent.
Detroit's Big Three -- GM, Ford and DaimlerChrysler -- have struggled to raise prices, faced with competitive imports from Japan, Korea and Europe.
But the recently weak dollar could help GM and Ford regain some pricing power, making foreign cars and trucks more costly, the paper noted.
Pricing information released Monday by GM indicated the automaker was making some standard features on 2002 cars optional in the coming year, resulting in a lower base prices. In some cases, GM is both raising prices and deducting standard equipment.
A Ford spokeswoman said prices on its models went up 0.4 percent in the 2003 model year for comparably equipped vehicles, adding an average $120 to sticker prices, the Journal reported.