According to Hitwise, General Motors was the big online winner in the battle of employee discounts, writes Media Life (via MediaBuyerPlanner). GM's program, first launched in June, helped increase the total market share of U.S. visits to GM.com 477 percent during the week ended June 11, compared with the previous two weeks. Though traffic has leveled off since then, visits are double what they were before the campaign.

Ford launched a similar program in July: market share of its FordVehicles.com site increased 37 percent the following week compared to the two weeks prior, while market share to Ford.com increased 55 percent.

That same week, market share of visits to Chrysler's sites also increased: Chrysler.com, 15 percent; Dodge.com, 4 percent; and Jeep.com, 31 percent. The automotive-manufacturers category itself was an overall winner, up 9 percent in June, 13 percent in July, and 9 percent in August, compared with the same months last year.

The battle of employee pricing programs may be a precursor to one of the category's best years ever.