As sales by Detroit's automakers plummeted in January to the lowest levels in decades, General Motors announced a new round of incentives that run through March 2.

Consumers can choose zero percent financing for up to 60 months, 1.9 percent loans for 72 months or cash back ranging from $1,000 to $2,000, in addition to 'most other general market incentive offers,' said GM in a statement.

The Presidents Day Sale covers certain 2008 and 2009 Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Hummer, Pontiac, Saab and Saturn vehicles.

The incentives come on the heels of GM's Tuesday announcement that its January sales dropped 49 percent to 129,227.

The new incentives cover a long list of vehicles, including the newly launched Chevrolet Traverse, , some version of the Chevrolet Silverado, the GMC Acadia, the short-wheelbase Cadillac Escalade and the Saturn Aura. The Cadillac CTS is included in the incentives, but the Cadillac CTS V-Series is excluded.

GM took pains to position the latest incentives as business as usual. 'It is normal practice, at the start of a calendar year, to hold promotions to introduce everyone to the new-model-year vehicles and build sales momentum,' it said in a statement. 'The Presidents Day Sale is just such a strategic marketing activity and is one of several 'shopping opportunities' we see throughout the year.'

In the meantime, the dismal sales numbers from Detroit provoked even more criticism from Washington.

The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday reported that auto industry nemesis Senator Bob Corker (R.-Tenn.) said January sales make it 'even more crucial' that GM and Chrysler make more substantive progress on restructuring, a condition of the federal bailout. Chrysler reported that its U.S. sales fell 55 percent versus January 2008.

'There really is no progress on the negotiations,' Corker said, referring to concessions that need to be taken by bondholders, unions and other stakeholders in the troubled automakers, according to the Journal report.