NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - General Motors, which announced price cuts Tuesday on most of its vehicles in an effort to wean its buyers off cash-back sales incentives, quietly rolled out a new incentive program the next day, according to a published report.

The Detroit News reported that auto manufacturer is offering its dealers $250 "instant value certificates" that can be used as closing tools in the sale of GMC and Chevrolet SUVs and pickups, according to a letter sent to GM dealers Wednesday that was obtained by the newspaper.

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Dealer will be given a specific number of certificates based on sales volume and other criteria, according to the report. They'll be able to offer customers up to four certificates -- or $1,000 in rebates -- to close a sale.

GM also is offering a range of new customer cash rebates, according to the report, and while the amount of cash being offered is less than offered before the price cuts, some offers are still as much as $1,500.

GM executives said Tuesday that the new price program would not eliminate sales incentives but would allow much less and more targeted use of such offers.

"We do not plan on having the same kind of propensity for incentives that we've had over the past couple of years, GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner told reporters at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit on Tuesday, right after the price cuts were announced. "Obviously if it is required at different times of the year, we're not ruling out use of incentives. They will be significantly more targeted."

GM spokesman Jeff Kuhlman told the newspaper the new incentive programs are consistent with the auto manufacturer's goal of using such offers more strategically.

In the case of the $250 dealer certificates, he said the program -- which runs until Feb. 28 -- is designed to help clear out aging truck models before the arrival of 2007 replacements early this year, which will be priced lower than their predecessors, Kuhlman told the newspaper.

The new customer cash rebates -- running until Jan. 31 -- are necessary to remain competitive in certain segments, he said.

"We've got to give our dealers something to work with," he told the News.

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For more details on the GM price cuts, click here.

For more news and photos from the Detroit auto show, click here.