With Richard out sick today, I’m filling in. This morning, General Motors announced “The new GM,” and the company’s press release mentioned something about a partnership with eBay Motors that confused some dealers, many of whom sell on eBay. Here’s the excerpt that quoted GM President and CEO Fritz Henderson:

“We’re also working on new ways to make car buying more convenient for our customers, including an innovative new partnership with eBay in California to revolutionize how people buy vehicles online,” Henderson said. “Customers will be able to bid on actual vehicles just like they do in an eBay auction, including the option of choosing a predetermined ‘buy it now’ price. 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. In all cases, our goal is to make the shopping and buying process as easy as possible for GM customers – on their time and their terms. Stay tuned.”

I just spoke with the folks on the eBay Motors team, including Rob Chesney, VP of eBay Motors, about the developing situation with GM. What’s clear is that eBay hasn’t finalized its plans with GM. Here’s what I learned:

eBay Motors has been in discussions with General Motors to identify innovative ways to help dealers market vehicles. As the no. 1 automotive site on the Web (Nielsen/NetRatings – March 2009), eBay Motors has unique knowledge of consumer automotive shopping behavior and a community of more than 13 million unique automotive visitors. Currently, more than 30,000 U.S. franchise and independent dealers in the U.S. utilize eBay Motors as a complementary sales channel for their businesses. In addition, several automakers, including General Motors, display certified pre-owned inventory on the eBay Motors marketplace.

Related Reads:

• EBay Says It Has No Deal With G.M. (New York Times)
• EBay Says Plans To Sell GM Cars Not Finalized (DowJones)